Eastern Washington basketball transfers Morganne Comstock, Kylie Huerta and Chenise Peone team up to put Hawaii Pacific on Division II map
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Friendships forged in the Inland Northwest made a historic season possible for a basketball team across the ocean. Morganne Comstock, Kylie Huerta and Chenise Peone – all transfers from Eastern Washington University – led Hawaii Pacific to this year’s PacWest Conference championship and to its best record in women’s basketball.
“We need all three of them,” HPU coach Reid Takatsuka said. “They’re the glue of the team.”
The Sharks risk their 23-4 record in the PacWest tournament, which started Thursday at Concordia University in Irvine. Top-seeded HPU will begin play in today’s semifinals. The champion qualifies for the NCAA Division II tournament.
“I want to get the legacy started for my coach,” said Peone, who grew up on the Colville Indian Reservation.
Peone, a 5-foot-9 senior whom Takatsuka calls “our vocal leader,” made the All-PacWest third team after finishing seventh in the conference in 3-point shooting (37.0 percent) and ninth in rebounding (8.3 per game) while averaging 13.7 points.
Huerta became the conference’s Newcomer of the Year. The 5-foot-1 senior ranked first in the PacWest and fourth nationally with 4.1 assists per game. Huerta also averaged 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds.
“Kylie’s just the Energizer bunny,” Takatsuka said. “She’s very exciting to watch and just full of energy. She’s a warrior.”
Comstock made the biggest impact. The 6-foot-2 redshirt senior earned the PacWest’s award as its Player of the Year for finishing first in scoring (20.4 points per game), second in rebounding (11.2), third in field-goal shooting (54.2 percent) and fourth in free-throw percentage (81.1). Her scoring and rebounding averages ranked 10th and 19th, respectively, in the nation.
That success came five years after Comstock underwent reconstructive surgery on her left hip, forcing her to redshirt her first season at EWU.
“I had to learn to walk again,” she said. “Getting back to knowing my body more has helped my game.”
Comstock became the first of the former Eagles to migrate to Hawaii. She arrived after playing just 12 games in two seasons for EWU.
“The experience at Eastern was great,” Comstock said. “But I just wanted to play.”
Last season, Comstock set the team’s single-season rebounding record and made the All-PacWest second team.
Nevertheless, adjusting to new surroundings demanded its price.
“Whenever she had problems or needed to talk, I was there for her,” Peone said. “But even if she was struggling, she still loved being there. It was all worth it to her.”
Peone kept Comstock’s comments in mind during a one-year hiatus after her junior season at EWU.
“I didn’t know if I wanted to play basketball, anymore,” Peone said. “She let me know I would fit into the program pretty well. She knew the coach would like me and I would like him.”
Huerta, questioning her own future, also maintained contact with Comstock.
“We’ve been playing forever and we became really good best friends,” Huerta said. “But in the middle of my junior year, I wasn’t feeling the same way about basketball.
“I see her posting pictures on the beach with her team and I thought, ‘Wow! I could really see myself going there.’ ”
Going there meant experiencing culture shock. HPU has neither athletic facilities nor a campus. Classes take place in Honolulu high-rises. The basketball teams play and train at high schools, community centers or fitness clubs.
“We have to take a bus or different cars going around the island,” Comstock said. “Cheney is a college town. Everything is right there.”
Yet urban sprawl failed to destroy the dreams planned through social media.
“We’re all texting that we’re so excited, that our only goal is to win games,” Huerta said. “But it’s just crazy to know that we’re here and we made it happen. It’s been more than I, Morganne and Chenise could ever imagine.”