HONOLULU — When Lily Wahinekapu transferred out of Cal State Fullerton after a decorated freshman season, she cited one reason above all others for her subsequent signing with the Hawaii women’s basketball team: a chance to play with her younger sister, Jovi Lefotu, at the college level.
The two Iolani School graduates from Kaneohe did so for 18 games in the 2022-23 season before an untimely knee injury sidelined Lefotu for the last 15 contests that year, plus the entirety of 2023-24.
The wait for Lefotu to make a full recovery was protracted, but now worth it as the siblings are reunited on the floor heading into a 2024-25 Rainbow Wahine campaign of high expectations that officially begins Thursday at Portland. Tipoff is 4 p.m. Hawaii time.
It is expected to be their last season together; Wahinekapu, a multi-time All-Big West honoree and career 1,000-point scorer, is a senior while Lefotu is a third-year sophomore.
“Just have fun with her and make memories,” Lefotu said of what she hopes to experience. “It’s sort of sad thinking about how it’s going to be our last time being together, but I’m excited. We’re excited. We’re ready to show everyone why she came back for me, why we stayed to play for Hawaii.”
Lefotu described her older sister as supportive during her lengthy rehab and recovery process.
“She was cheering for me,” she said. “Very helpful after surgery.”
She said she felt back to normal this summer. That’s when she saw her first organized game action since her injury in UH’s foreign tour to Japan.
Wahinekapu and Lefotu matched up frequently against each other during September and October practices but after every session, they would compare notes.
“She’s been getting a different perspective off the court and after practice every day we talk about what happened,” said Wahinekapu, a multi-level scorer who led the Wahine with 11.6 points per game last year. “We collaborate together and see how we can make each other better. We give each other positive feedback and also what we need to work on.”
The 5-foot-8 Lefotu and 5-7 Wahinekapu could appear in the same backcourt as the 1 and the 2, or the 2 and the 1. Those are just a couple of the seemingly endless lineup options that coach Laura Beeman could employ entering her 13th season in Manoa.
UH’s other all-conference picks from last year, crafty wing Daejah Phillips and versatile forward Imani Perez are back, as are fifth-year seniors and rotation regulars Kelsie Imai and MeiLani McBee. Frontcourt veterans Brooklyn Rewers and Jacque David are there, too.
That degree of lineup consistency is a large part of why UH, the defending regular-season champion that had a disappointing showing in March’s Big West tournament semifinals in Henderson, Nev., was picked for a third straight year to win the league coming off a 20-11 year.
“I’m really looking forward to trying to piece together some of those things and as we move through the year just watching the girls show their skill sets in a different way,” said Beeman, who has an even 200 wins at UH.
To boot, the Wahine have a promising five-person recruiting class heavily weighted from Down Under. Ritorya Tamilo, a 6-foot-4 freshman center from Auckland, turned heads with her dunk during the Rainbow Madness introductory event followed by her polished 11-for-14 shooting in UH’s two preseason exhibitions on Neighbor Islands. UH dispatched Hawaii Hilo 69-50 on the Big Island on Oct. 27 and Chaminade 73-31 on Maui on Saturday.
Guards Ashley Thoms and Olivia Davies were UH’s outgoing seniors, which could open up minutes for Lefotu and Portland State senior transfer Mia ‘Uhila.
Lefotu remains a tantalizing prospect who, because of her injury circumstance, hasn’t been able to show much at the Division I level. But her affinity for the game was clear in her unofficial college debut with 20 points on 7-for-8 shooting in a preseason exhibition against Hawaii Pacific in November 2022. She went on to average 4.4 points on 47.4% shooting with a slashing-heavy game.
By January, she was one of UH’s top options off the bench. At UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 26, 2023, she played a season-high 29 minutes before getting hurt under the basket in the game’s final moments.
Beeman said it was a “no-brainer” to redshirt Lefotu last season as opposed to bringing her back late in the year when she wasn't fully ready.
Daily sibling antics are back.
“To see those two back on the floor together is fun,” said Beeman, who coached another sister tandem at UH in Lahni and Leah Salanoa from 2015 to 2019. “They bring so much energy and laughter with each other. I’ve said it before, they act like they’re twins half the time. And so the chemistry they have on the floor is great. I think the girls enjoy playing with the two of them as well.”
Thursday marks the 10th time in Beeman’s 13 years that UH opened on the road. It will be the fourth straight year they play two games on the continent to lead off.
The last time UH won a road game in its season opener was 2015 at Grand Canyon.
Portland will be a stiff first test for the Wahine. The Pilots of the West Coast Conference are coming off a 21-13 season in which they won the WCC tournament for the third time in five years.
The Wahine follow at Portland State at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The Vikings went 8-23 last year.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.