Sarah Tangalin finished third in points in Kapa‘a High School’s 45-29 win over Kaua‘i High School last week. She scored 7 points, behind teammates Destiny Smith and Mailika Napoleon who each had 12.
The difference, though, between Tangalin and her high-scoring teammates and many basketball players is that the 17-year-old senior point guard stands only 4 feet, 10 inches tall.
But that doesn’t faze her. She loves to play basketball — it’s her only sport and hobby — and she made a personal goal to score in every game.
“I don’t care if it’s only 7 points or 1 point,” she said. “I don’t want to finish with zero.”
That means taking as many shots from anywhere on the court.
“I like to practice my outside shots, my layups and even my inside shots,” she said with a laugh, pointing out that head coach Terri Maguire isn’t exactly a fan of her going inside. “If there’s an open lane, why not go inside and take that shot?”
But by going inside, she risks going up against the much taller centers.
“I’m not scared that I’m shorter than them,” she said.
After playing basketball for so many years, it’s just all about the game. Besides, she wasn’t always the shortest player on her team.
Tangalin started playing basketball when she was in second grade. She and her community ball teammates were all around the same height.
“I didn’t used to be smaller than everyone,” she said. “I wasn’t that small when I first started playing. Everybody else just grew.”
As the years went by, the fact that everyone around her was growing at a faster rate got to her a little bit. She was lucky, though, to have a strong group supporting her and her love of basketball. She could’ve easily have stopped playing because of the intimidation of being a shorter player, but that didn’t happen and she kept playing.
“At first I was a little intimidated, but my teammates and my coach, Mitsu Yokotaki, kept encouraging me to play,” she said. “Then I didn’t care that I was shorter than everyone, I knew I had to make it up one way or another, whether it be by my ball handling or my quickness.”
Maguire has coached Tangalin for the past four years at Kapa‘a and is glad Tangalin is still playing.
“She’s just got a great personality,” Maguire said. “She’s small but she’s got a really big heart.”
Tangalin scored 7 points in Kapaa’s season opener, 9 points against Waimea High School last week and 13 in a preseason, exhibition game against Kapolei High School of O‘ahu. In the Seabury Hall 14th annual Wahine Basketball Classic, Tangalin was named to the All-Tournament’s second team.
“She’s not only a good ball handler, she can take on those bigger players. There’s something about her that makes all the players look up to her,” Maguire said.
With this being Tangalin’s final season, she said her favorite part of this season so far was playing Kaua‘i in the Seabury tournament.
“The whole team went so we got to bond and get to know each other better and we were just tight on the court. We were playing better, making plays we had to. I think going on a trip really brings the team together, we get to know each other outside of school,” she said.
This is the final week of Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation play, with Kapa‘a playing its final regular-season game on Friday against Waimea.
Tangalin plans on graduating this year and continuing her education at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, possibly studying pharmacy.
