Arthur King has the Chaminade University women's basketball team trending in the right direction.
The second-year head coach guided the Silverswords to a 7-19 mark, 6-16 in the Pacific West Conference, and helped orchestrate a five-win improvement from the previous season, the biggest win-differential in program history.
"We made tremendous strides in competitive play this past season," King said. "Our upper classmen proved to be the nucleus needed to push the program to the right direction."
Of course, one of those upperclassmen had perhaps the finest season put together by a Silversword in the 13-year history of the program.
Destiny Castro (Talofofo, Guam/Notre Dame HS) established herself as one of the PacWest's elites by setting standards never seen before by those in a Chaminade uniform.
The junior broke eight records in 2018-19 – five single-season and three single-game – including single-season marks for scoring (501) and scoring average (20.0). Her game records include a 40-point outing at Holy Names on Jan. 8 and eight steals at Azusa Pacific on Feb. 19. With 1,135 career points, she is just one of three 'Swords in the 1,000-point club and is on pace to shatter Lilia Maio's career scoring record of 1,266.
But the season wasn't just all about Castro. Seniors
Hunter Liftee (Kamuela, Hawai'i/Central Methodist Univ./Honoka'a HS) and
Diamond Carter (Kapolei, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Olympic College/Kapolei HS) also provided the 'Swords with scoring punch, averaging 11.7 and 10.9 points, respectively.
The Silverswords also had on-the-job learning from a multitude of freshmen. Five of them saw no less than 14 minutes per game with
Ellyonna Bankofier (Happy Valley, Ore./Clackmas),
Jordyn Zader (Mukwanago, Wis./Pius XI),
Arianna Blowe (Monument, Colo./Lewis-Palmer), Michella Dean (Irvine, Calif./Orange Lutheran) and
Grace Underhill (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest) getting a bulk of the playing time.
Returnees
Kali Benavente (Tamuning, Guam/Academy of Our Lady of Guam) and
Sephora Yayouss (Brussels, Belgium/Peninsula College/K.A. Etterbeek HS) also helped provide valuable leadership during the season.
One area which kept Chaminade more competitive this season was defense. The 'Swords held opponents to 70.7 points and 39.9 percent shooting from the floor, both team records.
The 'Swords were the only team to shut down Dominican's Natalie Diaz, the PacWest scoring champion at 26.0 points per game. In the two contests they matched up against the conference's player of the year, Diaz had 14 and 15 points. Against the rest of the conference, she posted a 25.1 average.
With Castro entering her final year and the freshmen being a year older and wiser, the outlook for '19-20 appears bright as the 'Swords seek their first-ever postseason berth.
