When Brittney and Brooke Pahukoa began the process of choosing a college, their parents suggested that the twins go through the recruiting process individually rather than just automatically decide to continue their basketball careers together.
But Jeff and Debby Pahukoa also knew their daughters well enough to know how that process would likely play out.
“When they went through the recruiting process, my wife and I tried not to push them in the same direction,” Jeff Pahukoa said. “We had them go through recruiting separate, but deep down inside I knew they both needed each other to play at the highest level they could individually.”
And now, two years after ending their decorated careers at Lake Stevens High School, the decision to go to Boise State together has led to the biggest moment yet in Brooke and Brittney Pahukoa’s basketball lives: An NCAA tournament game on one of the most historic courts in college basketball, Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Pahukoa twins chose Boise State in part because they felt they would be able to contribute right away, which they have, and also because they saw it as a program on the rise. After winning last week’s Mountain West Conference tournament, with Brooke earning tournament MVP honors, the Broncos are in their third NCAA tournament and first since 2007 as a No. 15 seed facing the second-seeded Lady Vols.
For any young basketball player, getting to an NCAA tournament would be a dream come true, so to do so with a twin sister and best friend on the same roster is really something special for the Pahukoas.
“It’s a great experience on its own, but being able to do it with my sister is a totally different story,” Brittney Pahukoa said. “Not a lot of people get to go to the tournament and achieve all that we have, but doing it together makes it even more special for us.”
After battling injuries as a freshman, Brooke Pahukoa took on a big role with Boise State this season as a starting guard who averaged 9.8 points per game, and really hit her stride midway through the season, as was evident in her conference tournament MVP award.
“She’s definitely taken her game to another level,” said Boise State coach Gordy Presnell. “She’s really adjusted to the speed of the game and to the physicality of the game. In the middle of this year, she became one of the best guards in our league, for sure.”
Brittney Pahukoa, meanwhile, missed a significant portion of the season with various nagging injuries, but is healthy now, and has been an important role player off the bench when healthy this year.
“She’s been hurt a lot this year, but she’s very much engaged and had some very good moments this year,” Presnell said. “She’s just been hurt or sick most of the year, but she’s done a lot for our program.”
Brooke Pahukoa may receive more of the accolades, but she marvels at the way her sister plays the game.
“She’s aggressive and she goes after every 50/50 ball,” Brooke Pahukoa said. “It sounds like an easy thing, but it’s really not. You don’t want to be guarded by her, because she’s going to make you work for it. Do you want to drive to the basket, do you want to take a shot? She’s going to be right there on you.
“One of her roles this year is to get us an extra possession, and it never fails, every time she goes in, no matter how long it is, she’ll get us an extra possession by getting us a steal or a rebound. She’s amazing at reading the floor. I don’t get it; it’s like the ball just magically goes to her hands. I don’t know how she does it.”
Of course, reality suggests that the Pahukoas and Boise State are in for their biggest challenge yet, facing a program that has won eight national titles and appeared in 18 final fours. “Heck, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame is next to their gym,” Presnell notes. He’s exaggerating — the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame is actually a good mile and a half from the arena — but his point is the same nonetheless: This is an up-and-coming program facing one of the most successful programs in the history of college athletics.
It’s a daunting task, to be sure, but it’s also exactly what the Pahukoas dreamed of when they chose to remain teammates in college, a decision their parents wouldn’t force on them, but that they knew was likely inevitable.
“It’s definitely something special that not many people can say they’ve had the opportunity to do,” Brooke Pahukoa said. “We love basketball, but we love each other’s company even more. Being able to play together and live together and go to the same school, have the same friends, that’s something we had at Lake Stevens, and being able to take that to college — I know when you go to college it’s about finding yourself and growing up — and being able to do that with your best friend by your side is something really special.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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