BIIF basketball: New look for Dragons and coach

Equal parts demanding yet affable, Honokaa coach Daphne Honma is showing signs of softening, even as she’s transformed her body in the opposite direction.

Oh, sure, school was in session for the Dragons on Saturday night in the locker room after they absorbed their third consecutive defeat at Waiakea’s preseason tournament. They were lectured for 20 minutes or so by the coaching staff before Honma, fitter and trimmer after losing a noticeable amount of weight thanks to diet and exercise, emerged to give a status report on Honokaa girls basketball.

“Growing pains all preseason, and everything is a work-in-progress,” Honma said. “But at least tonight they came out and decided to play and work hard, and we can build on that.”

Honma hasn’t just cut the fat – soda was the hardest to give up, she says – but she’s working on expanding her notoriously thin patience level to better connect with her players. Still a taskmaster, she trying a different approach to teaching and is using a young group of assistants, including former Dragons star Keisha Kanekoa, to bridge the generation gap between veteran coach and high school player.

“I’m old and for some of my players the gap between me and them is two lifetimes,” Honma said. “There is a disconnect for me, because I’m old school and my frame of mind is old school, and they’re not. They’re so into technology, and I’m a technological dinosaur.”

After winning consecutive HHSAA Division II state championships in 2014 and 2015 in Honma’s second stint at Honokaa, the Dragons finished a respectable 8-3 last year, losing to Hilo in the BIIF semifinals, in their first season back in Division I – Honma wouldn’t have had the move up any other way.

The Dragons must replace three seniors, including point guard Kizzah Maltezo, who earned co-BIIF Division II Player of the Year in 2015 and left for a scholarship at Division II Concordia.

“Most of our impact players are relatively young,” Honma said. “We still have to teach them concepts.”

Honokaa is 1-7 in the preseason, and while scoring has been consistently been an issue, the defensive intensity hasn’t always been up to snuff either.

In three games at Waiakea, the Dragons averaged 26 points, culminating with a 35-28 loss to former BIIF Division II rival Kamehameha that was their highest-scoring game of the weekend.

“Good players want to be pushed,” she said. “If I can figure out how to connect with them, the pushing will come.”

Junior Kawena Kaohimaunu could play either guard position Honma said and senior Apreal Ansagay was coming on at point guard, and freshmen Shaleina Bird and Keighsha Walker are also being groomed for the position, though Walker’s main contributions likely will come at another spot on the floor.

Honokaa is guard heavy, but when it’s faced taller opponents, senior Jaycie Carvalho has been paired in the post with either junior Azure Tolentino or junior Kui Aikau, who is tall and athletic but new to the game.

Junior Bella Fernandez can play either spot at forward.

“I think we have a promising future,” Honma said. “I love the staff and am hoping the kids can connect and grow and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge that we have.”

About the only time Honma’s patience wore thin during an interview was when the topic of the unfinished floor at Honokaa Armory came up. Until it’s finished, the Dragons must practice and play at the Parks and Recreation gym.

“Our floor is jacked, and the state is dragging its feet,” she said. “Tell them to hurry up and fix it.”

Waiakea girls preseason tournament

Thursday

Hilo 40, Honokaa 23

Konawaena 48, Mililani 23

Kamehameha 50, Kaiser 30

Waiakea 51, Leilehua 35

Friday

Konawaena 50, Leilehua 23

Hilo 34, Kamehameha 29

Mililani 57, Honokaa 27

Waiakea 45, Kaiser 39

Saturday

Konawaena 62, Kaiser 26

Hilo 56, Leilehua 47

Kamehameha 35, Honokaa 28

Mililani 47, Waiakea 44