When Lily Wahinekapu transferred to Hawaii from Cal State Fullerton, the main reason was to play with her younger sister, Jovi Lefotu, for the next three years.
Now as she begins her senior season with the Rainbow Wahine, Wahinekapu is hopeful she can experience just one full year by her sister’s side — on a basketball court.
The two sisters, who use different last names to represent both sides of their family, had played in just 18 games together entering this season.
A knee injury in January of Lefotu’s freshman season caused her to miss the rest of that year and all of the following season.
While Wahinekapu was busy working on her game and practicing every day with her team, she was also taking care of her sister.
Wahinekapu was the one dropping Lefotu off at rehab and picking her up and making sure she had everything she needed through the comeback process.
She was there helping every opportunity she had so the two would hopefully get back to playing on the court together while there was still time left.
“It was really tough watching her go through what she had to go through,” Wahinekapu said before a practice last week. “I’ve been through it all with her mentally, trying to understand what she needs and if she’s having a bad day — sometimes she wants space and sometimes she wants someone to be there with her.
“I think she’s done a really good job of taking care of her mental game as much as her physical game. It’s not just the physical part that is important, but it’s also mentally still being engaged and just being positive even though it was hard to be positive during that time.”
It caught Wahinekapu for a brief second during UH’s season-opening game against Portland when she substituted back into the game for her sister late in the first quarter.
The two shared the floor midway through the second quarter, but Wahinekapu admitted she was too focused on the game to notice.
There’s not a lot of time to worry about anything else, especially on this year’s Rainbow Wahine squad.
Coach Laura Beeman played 12 players in the loss to the Pilots and 13 in the win over Portland State two nights later.
Wahinekapu had started the first 61 games of her UH career before coming off the bench against the Vikings.
“We’re still trying to figure out lineups and chemistry-wise who works well with each other, but we have a lot of people that can do a lot of things on the court and you have to just make sure you’re ready when your number is called in,” Wahinekapu said. “It’s a little different, but we’re trying to adjust with what the coaches are doing, and for me it’s just about being there for my teammates and doing whatever I can do to help us win.”
Wahinekapu has done a lot of winning at UH — 39 games to be exact. The Rainbow Wahine have gone 30-10 in Big West Conference regular-season games during that stretch.
She has made the All-BWC first team as a sophomore and second team as a junior and led UH in both minutes and points per game both seasons.
“I’m just trying to be the best player I can be for my teammates,” Wahinekapu said. “Just winning another championship again is the goal, and for me, it’s doing what I can for the team, whether it’s defensively or controlling the tempo or scoring or distributing. Whatever I can do for the team.”
The Rainbow Wahine took a trip to Japan for 10 days in early June, giving an experienced group of core veterans a chance to further tighten their bond while getting to know three of the new players who had just joined the team.
Wahinekapu, who admitted she’s a big sushi and sashimi fan, said one of the best parts of the trip was not having to worry about how much she ate.
“You’re walking everywhere you go, so you don’t gain any weight,” Wahinekapu said. “It was great, a lot of fun, clean too. All the different parts and experiences we shared and getting to do it with the coaches and teammates … super fun.”
IN THIS SERIES
>> Lily Wahinekapu
>> MeiLani McBee
>> Mia ‘Uhila
>> Kelsie Imai
