Kapolei’s Leilani Tuani-Fifita had an excellent season of playing girls basketball for the Hurricanes this school year and credits her performance on her experience of playing her junior year for a Minnesota high school.  “The team that I played for in Minnesota was pretty good. We made it all the way to states. But I wasn’t able to play in states because I was a transfer student. And they have these rules where transfers can’t play in state (tourney) games,” said Tuani-Fifita.

Tuani-Fifita played her sophomore and junior seasons for Kapolei. She noted that competing in the Minnesota high school circuit helped her get better. “In Minnesota, they play the game at a faster pace. And they have height. Like there are more girls my size so I had a chance to regularly battle against a variety of bigger players,” she said.
Playing the center position in Hawaii, the 6-2 senior has been dominating in the Oahu Interscholastic Association West Division. Towering over smaller players, Tuani-Fifita is among the league leaders in scoring and rebounding.
Her efforts helped Kapolei finished third in the OIA Red West Division with a 12-5 league record.

The Hurricanes will represent the OIA in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state tournament which begins February 16.

“Winning at states would be a big accomplishment for our school. Kapolei is a fairly new school and we don’t have many banners,” she added. “We believe we can match up with everybody. We work pretty hard in our practice. What will determine our success is our executing our knowledge of the game.”  She says a lot of teams double-team her to keep her as far from the lane area as possible. “I face a lot of double teaming. That’s the main difference from playing here in Hawaii and playing in Minnesota. Since the players are (generally) smaller in Hawaii they focus all of their attention on stopping me from getting inside. When I played in Minnesota, they usually defended me with straight up one-on-one defense,” Tuani-Fifita pointed out.

During the fall Tuani-Fifita plays volleyball and hopes that a small college will allow her to continue her sports career. “I would like to study pre-law. I’m checking out several colleges, but as of today I haven’t decided on anything,” Tuani-Fifita said.