Kanoa happy to be home

Tia Kanoa will get a just a taste of game night in the Stan Sheriff Center in the Rainbow Wahine basketball team’s annual Green and White scrimmage on Friday.

As a transfer from Arizona State, she’s a little over a year away from enjoying the full course. But in the meantime, she’ll take what she can get.

“Friday will be fun,” Kanoa said. “Friday’s our teaser.”

The public debut for this year’s Rainbow Wahine team is set for 7 p.m. on Friday and Kanoa will be one of the nine newcomers introduced to the fans.

The Kamehameha graduate returned to Hawaii after spending her first two years of college at ASU and will sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules. That said, the sophomore guard will have an opportunity to contribute to this season’s fortunes while working on the scout team in practice and adding a veteran presence to a young roster.

“She would start for us right now if we had her this year,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “We’re going to miss her a lot because she understands the pace and the physicality. But we’re going use every bit of her experience, every bit of her positivity, every bit of her great leadership this year while we wait for her to get on the floor.”

Kanoa and guard Rachel Odumu, a transfer from Monmouth, will be the core of the Wahine scout team during their redshirt seasons. As such, Kanoa said their charge from Beeman is to “be super competitive. … This is your year to get yourself better individually and get them better as individuals and as a team.”

Beeman said this season also offers an opportunity for Kanoa continue to build strength and confidence after undergoing three knee surgeries since her freshman year of high school.

Kanoa was born on Kauai and lived on Maui and Oahu before moving to California at age 7. She suffered her first injury as a freshman at La Jolla Country Day in California then helped the Lady Torreys capture a state championship as a sophomore in 2012.

Although she lived in California from second grade through her sophomore year, Kanoa said she always considered Hawaii home and enrolled at Kamehameha when her family moved back to the islands prior to her junior year.

The Warriors captured the ILH title that season and Kanoa scored a team-high 16 points in the Division I state final to help power Kamehameha’s comeback from a 20-point deficit in a 45-39 win over Konawaena. She was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and was No. 8 on the Star-Advertiser’s Fab 15.

She accepted a scholarship offer from Arizona State just before suffering another injury that cost her most of her senior year. The Sun Devils honored Kanoa’s commitment, but yet another ACL injury two games into the 2014-15 season sidelined her again.

“I grew up a lot every time. I was humbled every time,” she said. “I learned a lot of patience and I learned a lot from all my coaches.”

Kanoa was in the midst of her latest comeback when Arizona State visited the Sheriff Center last November for the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Shootout. Although she wasn’t on the active roster for the tournament, the reception she received from family, friends and past coaches that weekend later contributed to her decision to transfer over the summer.

“(They) gave us leis and gave us goodies, it was just a really cool experience and that was something that was in my mind coming home and being able to play in front of that,” Kanoa said. “They knew I wasn’t going to be on the court, but they still had that support.”

She returned to game action last December and played in five games during the Pac-12 season. She saw 4 minutes of playing time in ASU’s win over New Mexico State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and ASU was eliminated by Tennessee in the second round.

A chance to be close to family prompted the decision to transfer even if it means having to wait another year before she has the opportunity to play in a regular-season game. In the meantime, she’ll do what she can in the practice gym and from the sideline.

“I think it’s going to hit me more when the games really start, that’s going to be hard for me,” Kanoa said. “But I’m really proud of this team and I’m excited to see what they can do.”

Here’s a quick video of Kanoa during a 3-point shooting drill at the end of Tuesday’s practice.