Lily Wahinekapu said she didn’t feel any pressure in her first college basketball game.
Her first college basketball game at home, however? That was a different story.
The 2020 Honolulu Star-Advertiser All-State Player of the Year came back to the islands over the weekend and scored a team-high nine points to go along with five rebounds, three assists and two steals for Cal State Fullerton in a 54-52 loss to Hawaii at the Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday night.
Her immediate family had flown up to California to see her play earlier in the season, but this time, she had everyone who could make it in the arena supporting her.
“It felt good, but it also was kind of a little bit nerve-wracking for me because I hadn’t played in front of all of my family in so long and I hadn’t been home in so long,” Wahinekapu said.
The 5-foot-7 guard led ‘Iolani to two state titles in high school and the school would have been the favorite to win a third if the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t wiped away the entire 2021 season.
The virus again nearly got in the way of her playing at home, as the Titans were forced to postpone their first three scheduled games in Big West Conference play.
All the way up until boarding the plane, she wasn’t sure she would get to make it home to play in her first game in Hawaii since scoring 20 points to help ‘Iolani beat Konawaena for the ’20 state championship.
“Just, like, a lot of waiting patiently to hear whether we were going to be playing or not,” Wahinekapu said. “A lot of us were stuck in quarantine and didn’t practice for a long time and there was just a lot of waiting until the day before we got on the plane to hear if we would make it.”
Patience has become a necessary trait for every student-athlete during this pandemic that is slowly closing in on the two-year mark. It hit just a few weeks after Wahinekapu and her sister, Jovi Lefotu, combined for 42 points in the win over the Wildcats.
Wahinekapu wasn’t able to play her senior season at ‘Iolani with her sister, but she did get to participate in some summer traveling tournaments to stay somewhat in basketball shape.
As soon as she could leave, Wahinekapu was on a plane to Fullerton, Calif., to get her college career going as quickly as she could.
“I wanted to get out of (Hawaii) as fast as possible because I just wanted to play,” Wahinekapu said. “I came up in the summer for a month and then I went back for a week and relaxed at home and then came right back up to get ready for the season.”
Her first real game in 21 months came in November when the Titans opened the season at home against Southern Utah.
Wahinekapu, who won a spot in the starting lineup before making her college debut, scored a game-high 20 points and hit the game-winning shot, a banker in the lane with five seconds to go to give Cal State Fullerton a 71-69 win.
“That was when we didn’t have our head coach and I was just so excited to go out and, like, live my dream that I’ve wanted to do for a long time now,” Wahinekapu said. “I didn’t feel that much pressure or anything. It was just fun to be out there with the girls and that we were all working together all wanting the same goal.”
Through 11 games, Wahinekapu leads the Titans averaging 12.8 points on 37.9 percent shooting from the field. She’s also averaging 4.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game.
As conference foes against Hawaii, Wahinekapu has at least three more opportunities to come back home to play, but those games might be even more nerve-wracking.
Her sister, now a senior at ‘Iolani, has signed to play for the Rainbow Wahine beginning next season.
“Yeah. It’s going to be an interesting matchup because she knows me and I know her,” Wahinekapu said. “A lot of people think it’s going to be a good show and I do think that too.”
Lilly Wahinekapu
>> School: Cal State Fullerton
>> Class: Freshman
>> Height: 5 feet 7
>> Position: Guard
>> High school: ‘Iolani (2021)
