The Hawaii Storm girls basketball team outlasted Team Kwik (Texas) 37-29 to capture the 17-Under Cairo Division title at the Nike Tournament of Champions in Chicago last week.
Members of the Storm are: Shayla Cabato-Machado (Farrington), Paige Fahrni (Mid-Pacific), Mandi Kawaha (Hilo), Brilie Kovaloff (Mid-Pacific), Dallas Martinez (Sacred Hearts), TeHiwa Medeiros (Sacred Hearts), Dahlis Sablay (Mililani) and Taylor Wu (‘Iolani).
The Storm, coached by Mike Taylor, placed first in their pool with a 3-2 record. They opened play with a 45-44 win over the Illinois Rage. That same night, they defeated Precision Athletics (Kansas City, Mo.) 35-29.
The next day, Hawaii Storm fell to MT Elite Ducks Onyx (Mass.) 50-46 and the Houston RoadRunners 50-33.
On day 3, the Storm doused the Wisconsin Blaze 47-35. They finished pool play in a three-way tie for first place with Illinois Rage and Houston Lady RoadRunners, but earned the top spot by point-differential tiebreaker.
That set up a matchup with the first-place team in the opposite pool, Team Kwik, for the championship.
Taylor is a former Punahou varsity coach who guided the program to four state crowns during a 10-year span. His staff is comprised of Jordan Kealoha, Ashley Yamachika and Dwayne Yuen.
Played at McCormick Place South, the Nike TOC summer tournament included 48 divisions, of which 28 played in separate 17U groups. There were 12 teams per division in 17U.
Great job coaches and kids. This is really a prestigious tourney.