Daejah Phillips’ basketball career almost ended before it really got started.
Growing up in Southern California as one of seven children, Phillips was playing a game of one-on-one with one of her brothers in the front yard when he threw down a dunk on his sister that made her never want to play again.
“I chipped my tooth,” Phillips recalled. “I was like, I’m done playing. I don’t wanna play.”
Fortunately for her — and for the University of Hawaii — that feeling didn’t last long.
With her mom coaching her all the way to high school, Phillips ended up moving to Las Vegas toward the end of eighth grade, and she eventually made the team as a freshman at Centennial High.
She won a state championship all four years and never lost a game to a Nevada opponent. Centennial came to Hawaii in 2017, when she was a sophomore, and won the ‘Iolani Classic.
Playing at the University of Hawaii was never a thought at the time, but the trip did leave her with some fond memories.
“Our coach was very strict. It wasn’t too bad, but if you had a certain amount of turnovers (in a game) you’d have to run,” Phillips said. “So we were running on the beach and this guy came up to our coach asking why are these girls running, like, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Coach was laughing. It was so funny to us. Thinking about it now, we were supposed to be on the beach going over plays and instead we were all in the water.”
Phillips never imagined she’d be back in that setting again, but her play caught the eyes of the UH coaching staff.
Head coach Laura Beeman remembers first seeing Phillips and thinking there’s something they could work with. It just might take a little time.
“Her athleticism just stood out. She was an undersized post player who we felt we could develop and move her to the perimeter, but we don’t think we could do it in three weeks,” Beeman said. “Her ability to kind of morph into something different so quickly was remarkable.”
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Phillips wasted no time thriving in a different role at UH. In the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, Phillips was named the Big West Sixth Man of the Year and made the all-freshman team.
Her ability to learn so quickly speaks to a basketball IQ she says she got from her mother growing up.
“Her knowing the game so well and teaching it to me,” Phillips said. “Basically every time we talk, she tells me to go to my old school skills, basically using the backboard and playing defense and playing basketball straight up. Adjust your game but don’t adjust your strength.”
The formula has certainly worked out. Entering her fourth season at UH, Phillips has added two Big West championships to her resume of four high school state titles. Now comes the challenge of adding even more to the list.
“Daejah is a winner. There is no doubt about it,” Beeman said. “Where she needs to continue to have growth is she needs to put in the work and grow her game on the physical side of the ball as well as the mental side of the ball. That kid has a piece of my heart and she knows that. I love her and I want to see her be successful at the level she wants to be successful.”
Confidence is never an issue. As Phillips looks ahead at the final two years of her UH basketball career, she’s not content with just winning the Big West. She has even higher aspirations.
“I want to get past the second round of the NCAA (Tournament),” Phillips said. “It comes with us winning the Big West again and we want to put more of our focus on getting a higher seed in the tournament so we don’t have to play the national (champion) in the first game. Being able to succeed and move forward in that tournament is the goal.”
