Kuehu, Rodrigues happy to renew friendly rivalry

Shawna-Lei Kuehu had to think back a ways to recall the last time she shared the floor with Iwalani Rodrigues at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"The last time I think we played each other on this court was sophomore year," Kuehu said.

That would be their sophomore year of high school, when Kuehu scored 37 points to lead Punahou to a win over Roosevelt in the 2006 state tournament final.

Both are looking forward to return appearances in the arena today.

Kuehu hopes to be back in the UH rotation after missing the last five games while recovering from a concussion. Rodrigues last played in the Sheriff Center in 2008 as a Kalani senior and returns as a leader for Utah.

"It’s been a while, but it’s always home when you get to play in front of family and friends," said Rodrigues, who attended Roosevelt for three years before transferring to Kalani and led both teams to OIA championships. "So it’ll be nice; it’ll bring back memories for sure."

Rodrigues will have friends in the stands and on the opposing sideline, having played with and against Kuehu. UH juniors Vicky Tagalicod and Kanisha Bello and manager Janelle Nomura played during high school and on all-star teams. All five earned all-state recognition in 2008.

"It’ll be a reunion for me," Rodrigues said. "I’m excited. It’s still a game. We’ll be friends off the court, (but) both teams want the W."

"On the floor it’s competition," Kuehu said, "but at the same time we have that respect for each other and we kind of understand each other. So it’ll be different and it’ll be good to see how she has changed since high school."

Kuehu said she was cleared to play this week and has been working in practice to get up to speed after sitting out most of UH’s last two tournaments.

"I’m just trying to get my legs to fire up when I need to, get myself into game shape," she said. "I’ve been working on that with extra stuff on the side, but I think I’ll be ready to go."

UH coach Laura Beeman said she hopes to ease Kuehu back into the mix and her return would add another option to a rotation led by forward Kamilah Martin’s 14.9 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.

Rodrigues returns as a key part of Utah’s best start since the 2000-01 season. She’s averaging 11.8 points and leads the Utes with 22 assists. She set a school record by hitting 110 3-pointers two seasons ago and reached the 1,000-point mark in the Utes’ season-opening win against Denver.

"The numbers don’t necessarily tell the whole story either," Utah coach Anthony Levrets said. "She’s our best wing defender, does a great job defending (the opponent’s) best player every night.

"We have two all-conference bigs and her ability to shoot makes their lives so much easier, because (opponents) cannot double-team off of her when we get them on the same side of the floor."

Beeman coached against Utah as a USC assistant last year and is well aware of the challenges the Utes present with Rodrigues on the perimeter and 6-foot-4 forward Michelle Plouffe (18 ppg, 8 rpg) and 6-3 Taryn Wicijowski (15.7 ppg, 8 rpg) inside.

"It definitely helps with familiarity to know what they did (last year)," Beeman said. "But they’re a different team. They’re a more mature team than they were last year, they have more experience, they have great depth.

"We have to pick our poison when we play these teams with inside strength with outside shooters."

Long break coming for UH

Today’s game will be UH’s last regular-season contest until Dec. 28. The Wahine have an exhibition against Hawaii Pacific on Dec. 18.

"We’ll shorten practices up and go harder for shorter periods," Beeman said. "We’ll also do some conditioning outside the gym. We’ll maybe do Koko Head or Diamond Head, or take the kayaks out. Something of that nature where we can still do some conditioning and some team building and work on some of the areas that are more intangible, the communication, the chemistry. I think that’s good, but it can get better."