Trinity Harvey and Daegu are seeking their first Far East D-II tournament title since 2014. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Despite 20 wins this season, Nile C. Kinnick girls basketball coach David Weiland feels he can point to one game where his team learned the most: The Red Devils’ single loss.
Daegu also had a successful regular season, going 11-2. But the Warriors, too, can point to their most recent game, a four-point defeat in the league tournament final, as the one that imparted a great deal of experience, coach Kathryn Brashears said.
“They forced us to play faster than we wanted,” Weiland said after Kinnick lost 27-19 to Academy of Our Lady of Guam on Jan. 20 in the American School In Japan Kanto Classic final.
“They forced us into making offensive decisions quicker than we wanted. So we ended up turning the ball over a ton.”
The last couple of minutes was what brought down the Warriors in Saturday’s Korea postseason tournament final.
“They got us at the end,” Brashears said after the Warriors fell 51-47 to Seoul Foreign. “We ran out of steam. We couldn’t beat the press.”
Those losses occurred in the runup to the three-day DODEA-Pacific Far East tournaments starting Monday and give each team an idea of what it needs to do.
Kinnick defends its title in the Division I girls tournament, which returns to Camp Humphreys.
Christian Academy Japan is the defending champion in the girls Division II tournament, hosted by Yokota High School.
Six teams are playing in the D-I and eight in the D-II.
Leona Turner and Nile C. Kinnick hope to make it two straight Far East D-I tournament titles and six in school history. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
KaMiyah Dabner, left, and Nile C. Kinnick are taking aim at back-to-baack Far East D-I tournament titles and the sixth in school history. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Tatiana Lunn and Osan are seeking their first Far East Division II title in 15 years. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Jayla Johnson and Kadena are hoping to thread the needle to the Far East D-I tournament title they just missed out on by one point last year. It's been seven years since the Panthers won the tournament. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Jonessa Jones and Osan opened their season with six straight wins, but lost to Humphreys, their first encounter with a Division I team, five days into the New Year. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Jaelynn Leverett and the Humphreys girls are trying for their first Far East D-I tournament title in school history. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
The ASIJ tournament gave Kinnick some needed experience against quick teams such as Kadena and Guam private-school champion St. Paul Christian. Academy of Our Lady played the Warriors a handful of times during the season, and Weiland said his girls now know what to do.
“We have to get them to play our game, instead of us playing their game,” Weiland said. The Red Devils played the Cougars twice at ASIJ, winning the first time 41-28 before losing in the final.
“We were able to dictate the momentum and pace of the (first) game and force them into bad decisions. In the final, it was just the opposite,” Weiland said. “We have to transition offensively and defensively, take care of the ball and take what the defense gives us.”
While it’s clear that KaMiyah Dabner is one of Kinnick’s go-to players, Weiland said he’d rather have all his players contributing, as they did in a 41-28 win Tuesday over Yokota in which all five starters had between six and eight points. “It was really nice to see,” he said.
For Daegu, just having a post-season tournament, even if only three games, is a blessing, Brashears said. A year ago, the Warriors didn’t have the luxury of traveling to Far East, nor even a Korea tournament prior to that competition. This year, they saw the increased competition in Korea’s season-ending affair.
“Now, we know what it’s like,” said Brashears, whose Warriors bring six seniors to the table, three of them starters. “We’ve been there. We should be a lot more prepared for Far East this year.”
Kadena and E.J. King each suffered similar forms of heartbreak in last year’s Far East finals. The Panthers lost by one point to Kinnick, 35-34, while CAJ came from five down in the third quarter to win by 10 in the D-II title game.
“We have the tools,” Cobras coach McKinzy Best said of a team including his twin daughters Moa and Miu Best and senior Maliwan Schinker. “Now, we have to use them.”
