By KEVIN JAKAHI
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
Hawaii Prep’s youth of a year ago has been sprinkled with seasoning, and the girls basketball team is much improved with the return of Tiana Bertelmann-Tabac, the pass-first point guard everyone, especially forward Tiana Reynolds, missed so much.
Bertelmann-Tabac underwent ACL surgery on her right knee shortly before the Big Island Interscholastic Federation playoffs last season, and a young Ka Makani team struggled without her veteran presence and ball-handling, and finished with a 5-6 record.
HPA reached the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II state tournament seven years in a row from 2006 to ’12. But that run hit a stop sign because although Reynolds kept scoring, the four other Ka Makani starters, all promoted from the junior varsity, experienced growing pains.
In the BIIF semifinals, Kamehameha thumped HPA 61-32 in the sixth straight meeting between the two in the Final Four. The Warriors are 6-0 during that series, but had a tough time bottling the athletic Reynolds, who scored 14 points.
Then in the third-place game, Kohala took down HPA 44-23, claiming the last state berth and earning its first appearance since 1991, long before statewide classification started in 2004. Reynolds again carried a heavy offensive load with 10 points.
HPA won the program’s only BIIF Division II title in 2007, relying on post play from Tayler Wang (now at Lewis &Clark College) and Kela Fitzgerald, a two-time BIIF Player of the Year, who played volleyball at Cornell.
Wang is in her senior season at Lewis &Clark, a Division III school in Portland, Ore., that plays in the Northwest Conference. Last season, the 5-foot, 9-inch guard started all 29 games and averaged 10.6 points per game on 37 percent shooting. She was selected All-NWC honorable mention.
Twin threats will again lead the slightly more experienced Ka Makani, but in different sized packages. Bertelmann-Tabac is 5 feet, 5 inches and Reynolds is 5 feet, 9 inches.
“We’re going to depend on the two Tianas,” HPA coach Craig Kimura said. “Bertelmann-Tabac is the key. She runs the break, passes, settles the offense, and makes her presence felt. She’s the rock of the whole team. We don’t really need her to score.
“Reynolds rebounds for us and we need her to give us offense from the inside, not with outside shooting. At HPA, it’s always been, ‘Go inside.’ From Fitzgerald and Wang.”
When the ball swings to the other side in a half-court set, Bertelmann-Tabac will have a sturdy target in junior forward Ula Brostek, who has a good habit of establishing strong post position, and sometimes brings along an accompanying boombox.
If there is a loud lion’s roar of encouragement bouncing off a gym’s walls that belongs to her dad Bern Brostek, the retired NFL offensive lineman who played for the Los Angeles and St. Louis Rams from 1990 to ’97. His son Shane, a 2012 HPA graduate, is on a football scholarship at Washington.
“Ula is a force. She has a lot of strength and is figuring out how to use it,” Kimura said. “With one subtle move, she’s got her defender pinned. She uses her body well.”
Bertelmann-Tabac works smoothly with Reynolds, 5-foot, 10-inch junior Anna Juan and Tehane Reynolds, a 5-foot, 5-inch junior. All four have built-in chemistry, helping HPA’s volleyball team capture its third BIIF Division II crown in the last four years.
But basketball is Bertelmann-Tabac’s main sport, and similar to her role as a volleyball setter she’s most comfortable giving everyone good looks and dishing out assists as a point guard.
“I like that our team is aggressive and we’re willing to work hard,” she said. “I want to encourage everyone, run the ball and get it to the blocks for our post and wings.
“Our goal is to make it to states. And we have that championship heart.”
HPA Way
Kimura’s eyes light up when he talks about teaching the game, especially to his team’s rookies. Taru Aitola is junior from Finland and Annika Lepik is a sophomore from Canada. Both joined the team with zero hoops experience.
“I’m excited about having them. They definitely work hard and I like their play,” he said. “They’re like sponges, respectful and easy to work with.
“The No. 1 thing is the makeup of the team. They all get along well and have good chemistry. They help each other. Every day the two Tianas are teaching them what to do. Erina Baudat is another one. She’s a junior from Japan and in her second year of playing basketball.”
Reynolds has an expanded role as a teacher, something she takes to heart.
“It’s fun teaching them. I was there once,” she said. “We’re teaching them our way.”
Under Kimura, in his 14th season, the HPA Way has always stressed patience and ball-movement on offense, and man-to-man defense with strong communication to keep the help-side defenders on high alert.
Reynolds has been in the system long enough, and she knows what her veteran coach expects, especially the most efficient and effective HPA Way to put the ball in the basket.
“We want to move the ball, and look for an open shot in the paint,” she said. “The closer to the basket the easier it is to score, and that always makes coach happy.”