Girls basketball

TThe ILH Division I girls basketball season started in earnest on Saturday night. Punahou started the night with a balanced attack to win its ILH opener over rival Kamehameha 56-45. Kamaile Kandiah and Tanisha Elbourne each scored 13 points for Punahou with Abigail Aplaca and Elle Uyeda each chipping in 11. The Buffanblu only had four players score, but each of them hit at least one shot from long range. Mikiala Maio paced the Warriors with 19 points and Kiana […]

Hinano Higa stepped down as the Roosevelt girls basketball coach, Rough Riders athletic director John Chung confirmed Thursday. “She just felt like it was time to step away,” Chung wrote via text message. “She actually talked to me about it a couple of years ago.” And so it goes with quality head coaches. Sometimes they can’t leave to tend to other obligations — or just to take a break from the grind — even if they want to. Higa was […]

Hoops Artistry founder Brianna Lagat-Ramos accepted the position of head coach for the varsity girls basketball team for Kaiser for the upcoming year. Lagat-Ramos has been an assistant coach at Kalani and Moanalua and handled the JV team for Moanalua. The UH-Manoa graduate takes over for Simon Bitanga, who held the post for the past decade but was the subject of an investigation last year. Kaiser made the state tournament three straight years under Bitanga (2011-2013) and reached the state […]

Bobbie Awa isn’t big on hyperbole. However, the longtime, seven-time state-championship winning girls basketball coach will chat joyfully about her players, especially those who led. One of them is Chanelle Molina, who helped Konawaena capture its second girls basketball state title in as many years. Molina was inducted into the Enterprise Hawaii Hall of Honor on Sunday. “It was great coaching Chanelle for four years,” Awa said. “She’s such a good student of the game. She loves to learn. She […]