University of Hawai'i-Hilo head women's basketball coach Daphne Honma knew there was something special about Nesha Kimitete when Honma was still the grand dame of Honoka'a girls basketball and Kimitete was a child phenom from Kailua, Kona, under the tutelage of Bobbie Awa.

"I've watched her play since she was little and she's always been a great athlete," said Honma, who took over the Vulcans this season after a storied high school coaching career. "I've always liked her personality and her style of play."

And, as the PacWest acknowledged this week when it awarded Kimitete its player of the week award, what's not to like?

The 5-foot-3 sophomore shooting guard averaged 18.5 points (on 70 percent shooting from the field), four rebounds, 5.5 assists and 3.5 steals as the Vulcans notched a pair of wins against Chaminade to secure its third-place conference ranking.

On the season, Kimitete is averaging 11 points, 2.2 rebounds and two assists per game. She also leads the team in minutes (28.6 per game), free-throw percentage (84.6 percent), 3-point shooting percentage (37.4 percent) and steals (43).

Those are just numbers, but they do reflect both the breadth of Kimitete's abilities and the intensity of her efforts on the court.

"She's got the will to win," Honma said. "She's just a competitor."

Honma credits Kimitete's extensive youth basketball experiences with her player's mature, heady approach to the game.

Though primarily a shooting guard, Kimitete also spends considerable time at the point.

"She keeps people on their toes because if they're not looking, they'll find the ball right in their hands," Honma said.

Honma said Kimitete's mix of brains and athleticism also makes her a formidable defender, one capable of shutting down scorers on the ball and disrupting entire offenses off of it.

And Honma is happy to have a player like Kimitete as she adapts to coaching at the collegiate level. She said she had hoped for a few more wins, but she's encouraged by what she's seen of her team and its ability to implement her fast-paced offense and aggressive pressure defense.

Junior power forward Sheila Azevedo has been huge for the Vulcans, averaging 14.2 points and 7.5 rebounds, while sophomore forward Samantha Nordstrom has contributed 10.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.

SHE DOES

The Chaminade women's basketball team may be in the midst of a truly dismal season (0-21, 0-14), but they're certainly enjoying senior swing Simrin Herington's honeymoon period.

Herington, formerly Cummins, was married two weeks ago and has been celebrating ever since.

Last week, she averaged 14 points and 4.5 rebounds, up from her season averages of 9.7 points and 3.4 rebounds.

She's also been shooting more accurately from the line. Last week, she made 16 of 18 free throws (89 percent), to improve her season average to 72.4 percent.

KOLARIC, AGAIN

The Chaminade men's basketball team (17-6 overall, 12-2 PacWest) keeps on rolling and star forward Marko Kolaric keeps racking up the accolades.

Kolaric was named PacWest Player of the Week for the second consecutive week after averaging 18.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game as the Silverswords went 2-1 last week.

It's the third time this season Kolaric has won the award.

Kolaric has been on a hot shooting streak lately. Last week, he connected on 23 of 40 shots from the field (57.5 percent).

Kolaric's teammate Hayden Heiber, a senior point guard, also enjoyed a solid week, averaging 13 points and 6.7 assists.

BYUH, AGAIN

Somewhere high on the list of the surest things in tennis (somewhere in the neighborhood of Roger Federer) has to be the BYUH women's tennis team.

Overstatement? Consider this: With the Seasiders' 9-0 sweep of Gustavus Adolphus this weekend, BYUH has won 62 consecutive dual matches.

The Seasiders' doubles success is driven by Elwen Li and Maggie Deng, who dominated NCAA Division II last season and have shown no sign of letting up. The team's No. 2 pairing of Becky Lu and Jenny Chin has been just as imposing this season.

BYUH also sports impressive depth in singles play. In addition to Li, Deng, Lu and Chin, the Seasiders have seen impressive starts from Ramona Husaru and Ayako Ikeda.

Ikeda, a freshman, played the No. 6 spot on Saturday and came away with an efficient 6-0, 6-0 victory.

The Seasiders are 2-0 so far this season.

OUCH...

The theorem goes that the only way to get better is to play better competition. But as the Chaminade softball team learned last weekend, improvement hurts.

While they were more than game for the challenge, the Silverswords lost a trio of games to Division I Hawai'i, 15-0, 14-0 and 10-0 last weekend.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.