Hawaii Select All-Star Player Shares Ups And Downs
By Jack Danilewicz
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As the leading three-point shooter in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu last spring as a sophomore, Kamehameha’s Pualei Furtado has already positioned herself among the state’s top girls basketball players with two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Furtado, who is from Kahaluu, recently regained her touch when she traveled with the Hawaii-Select all-stars to the Main Event Tournament in Las Vegas, connecting on eleven 3-pointers in five games to help her team reach the quarterfinals, where they were defeated by eventual runner-up Tree of Hope (Washington).
“I thought Pualei had a great tournament,” said Hawaii-Select coach Chico Furtado, who is her uncle.“All the shots she took were good shots. She played with a lot of confidence, and she never lets her lack of size get to her.”
The summer season marked Pualei’s second with Hawaii-Select, which went 4-1 at the tournament. A diary of her experiences at the tournament follows.
Friday, July 20
“We got into Las Vegas really late - I think it was after 1 a.m. - and went to the Gold Coast Hotel, where we’ll be staying. Some of the girls ordered room service, but it can be really expensive, so I went with others downstairs to a restaurant to eat. My roommates - Diana Zane (Roosevelt), Kylle Roy (Kamehameha) and Kanisha Bello (Kamehameha-Hawaii) - and I didn’t get to sleep until 2:30 or 3 in the morning.”
Saturday, July 21
Most of us slept in since we’d arrived so late the night before. Since we had a day off - the first game is tomorrow - some of us went shopping at a Las Vegas outlet in the afternoon. I bought a swimsuit and some cute shirts. Tonight, Coach Chico took us out to dinner at another hotel, where the food was really good. A lot of people, including me, had the prime rib. It was big - I didn’t even finish it. With an 8 o’clock game the next day, we had to be in our rooms by 10 p.m. so that we could get a good night’s rest before our 5:30 (a.m.) wake-up call.
Sunday, July 22
Hawaii-Select 66, Alberta, Canada 33
We were on our own for breakfast, so I went to a coffee shop that was just around the corner and ate a blueberry muffin as my pre-game meal. The coaches also brought some fruit for us - apples and bananas and stuff. In our game, the first game of the tournament, everyone played really well. The Iolani girls - Jamie (Smith) and Chanel (Hirata) - were our leading scorers, but everyone played well together. We all seem to have connected. After the game, we all went to the California Hotel, where we were able to eat kalua pig and beef stew. Everyone was excited to eat local food again. After we ate, everyone was real tired, so we went back to the hotel and rested.
Tonight we went to CircusCircus, an adventure dome, and I rode the roller coaster about seven times. I love roller coasters. I also went on a water ride that was like a roller coaster. We walked around and played some of the games, and I won a little pillow for winning at basketball. Back at the hotel, we all hung out together until it was time to sleep.
Monday, July 23
Hawaii-Select 70, Washington Triple-Threat Blue 36
It was nice to have a game at 2:30 today so that we could sleep longer. My roommates and I slept until about 11, and then we went down to have breakfast, but the lines were super long (at the restaurant), so I ended up grabbing a muffin again. We didn’t start out well in the game. Washington’s first three field goals were 3-pointers. I think we had beginning-ofthe-game jitters, but once the game got going, everyone got into the groove. We were ahead by 16 at halftime after Jamie saw me open on the right wing for a 3-pointer (as time expired on the first half).
Halftime here (at the tournament) is more like a time out - it’s only about a minute. (Our late run) kept everything going for us. I think everyone got their confidence back, and we started out the second half a lot better. I think this team is a lot closer than last year - we have a connection. We don’t have any cliques. Everyone hangs out with everyone off of the court, and that’s helped us on the court, too. Tonight we went to New York, New York, where Kyllie Sato and I rode a roller coaster. It was huge, better than the one I rode the other night. From there, we went to Excalibur, where I won a monkey and a heart playing arcade games. We were going to walk down to the M & M factory, but it started to rain so we decided to go back up to the hotel.
Tuesday, July 24
Hawaii-Select 64, Las Vegas 34 Before our games, we’ve started doing a little dance to help get rid of the nerves. There are no locker rooms here at the YMCA, so we do it in a little hallway before going out to warm up. People look at us like we’re weird, but we don’t care. We only have three minutes to warm up, and this gets us ready (mentally). We played really well today. Even in Hawaii, in the summer league at Kalaheo, we didn’t have a lot of close games, but I think we’ll do fine (in a close game) if we play in one. We want to represent Hawaii well. Before our game, the referee told us he didn’t know there was basketball in Hawaii!
Tomorrow, we’ll play two games. I think we’ll do fine with it since we like to try to tire teams out by playing a lot of people. I’m pretty sure the first game is at 8 (a.m.), so room check will be at 10 p.m.
Wednesday, July 25
Hawaii-Select 54, ECI Gold (Minnesota) 39
Tree of Hope (WA) 41, Hawaii-Select 35
We were all up at 5:45 so that we could be in the lobby to meet at 6:45. We didn’t get off to a very good start in the first game, but we ended up winning by 15 to win our pool. After the first game, we grabbed something to eat and went back to our rooms and took power naps since we’d had to be up so early. I don’t know if playing twice (in one day) affected us - a lot of factors went into (the loss in the second game). We were sad after the game. It was the first time we’d ever lost together as a team, but coach told us to keep our heads high and that it was only a game. Jamie (Smith), Chanel (Hirata) and Britni (Ronolo) were the saddest because this is their last chance to play with a traveling team, so our younger players tried to cheer them up. We went back to our hotel, showered and then we went bowling since it was our last night there, and since they have a bowling alley right in the hotel. It was pretty hilarious since some of us aren’t very good at bowling. Even though we didn’t make it as far as we usually do, it was a great experience. When you play on a team like this, you get to make friends with people from all over the island. I was grateful for the opportunity. It will also be good to get home. I miss the beach. I will probably go the first few days I’m back.”
Contact Jack Danilewicz at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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