Shanae Vaifanua

The following article was featured in "The Spectrum". The story was written by Tom Zulewski.
ST. GEORGE — Shanae Vaifanua has been involved with a lot in her young life. If it’s musically inclined, chances are pretty good she’s danced to it a time or two. As a freshman with the Dixie State basketball team, Vaifanua has been making some sweet music of her own on the court.
Vaifanua has started eight of 12 games for Dixie State and is averaging 10 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. The graduate of Hurricane High has put up double figures in rebounding in the last three games (11, 11 and 10), a season-high of 24 points in a Dec. 5 win over Western New Mexico and a 23-point effort on Dec. 22 against Northwest Missouri State.
“I knew the game was going to be a little quicker (in college), but being able to stay home has made the transition a lot easier,” said Vaifanua, who is one of five Dixie State players to average 10 points a game and ranks second on the team behind Tanya Clark in rebounding.For her game preparation, Vaifanua is almost never without an IPod in her ears. She listens to a wide range of music, from Beyonce to Usher, and even country music stars like Taylor Swift and Toby Keith.It’s all part and parcel of the family Vaifanua was raised in. She moved with her family to Western Samoa at the age of 3 and returned to Utah by the time she reached fourth grade.Her younger sister, Taylor, who will be 17 on Monday and attends Hurricane, is trying to sing her way up the ladder on the new season of “American Idol” that starts Tuesday. She played with Shanae for the Tigers on the court last season.
While Vaifanua admits she sings “just about everywhere,” she is an accomplished dancer, having served as a backup on her sister’s Christian-themed album that was released four years ago.“Dancing is a big part of our (Samoan) cultural heritage, and our family was always doing that along with singing,” Vaifanua said.Vaifanua was also part of a girl group named “4 Real” that appeared on a KJZZ show called “Create The Group,” a cross between “Making the Band” and “Idol.” After several auditions for various record companies, the group disbanded last year to pursue their own individual opportunities; Taylor to the bright lights of the Fox reality music show, their two bandmates to solo singing careers, and Shanae to the hardwood at Dixie State.For DSC head coach Angie Kristensen, Vaifanua has been a pleasant surprise.
“You can tell she can change the game in a matter of seconds when she plays,” Kristensen said. “I’m excited to have her here and I’m excited to have her here for the next three years.“When we saw her (in high school), her potential was off the charts. I always thought ‘if that kid had committed herself to basketball, she’d probably be playing Division I.’
“Her skills are getting there. She’s got to become a better ball handler and better outside shooter. When that catches up to other parts of her game, she’s going to be unstoppable.”Although Vaifanua was pursued by bigger schools like Utah, she ended up at Dixie State with some motivation, courtesy of her former teammate at Hurricane, Brandi Barrett.“My senior year playing with her was a lot of fun,” said Barrett, a sophomore who is sitting out this season as a redshirt after suffering a foot injury before preseason workouts began. “We had a certain bond together when we played, so when I left, we would always talk like we wish we could play together again. When it was her turn to be recruited, I told her ‘if you can come here, you should.’”Vaifanua did. And the music came right along with her.Barrett didn’t mind a bit.“I don’t know if I want to just listen to her solo all the time, but at our house, we usually have radios going and we sing along, dance along,” Barrett said.With the opportunity to watch her at practice and in game situations, Barrett knows her friend and teammate has a personality that fits in like a veteran.“She does really well and gets along with everybody. She genuinely cares about people,” Barrett said. “You can do anything with her and have fun.”For her freshman year in high school, Vaifanua went to Keokuk High School in Iowa. One of the seniors on that roster was current Dixie State upperclassman Courtney Boyd.“She gives everyone an extra spark, and her intensity on the court carries to the bench, and for a freshman, that’s a big step,” Boyd said of Vaifanua. “If you can take that role as a freshman, good things are going to come in the future.”More than anyone else, freshmen are most likely to be on the receiving end of any practical jokes their teammates may come up with. Vaifanua has the personality and attitude to not only take what’s dished out, but give some of it back as well.“As a freshman, you’re always going to be ‘the freshman.’ She takes the role well and she’s always got a lot of energy off the court,” Boyd said. “She’s always making people laugh, and we make her laugh in return. It just so happens she’s the butt of some people’s jokes.”Vaifanua’s success at Dixie State brings a smile to her high school coach, Hurricane’s Clair Woodbury. Woodbury hasn’t had a chance to see her play, but he’s been kept in the loop with the help of his assistant coach and Vaifanua’s father, Bryan.“She’s doing exactly what I figured she’d do,” Woodbury said. “As good a high school player as she was, I knew she’d be a much better college player. Dixie is very, very fortunate to get her.“Shanae has a very special personality, so bubbly and happy, and she always has the wisecracks."

Here's to 2009!

Well first of all I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and an even better New Year’s. We all got a small break so everyone got home for the holidays. My home is in South Dakota and I didn’t want to get off that plane because I knew how cold it was going to be. You know it is bad when you are stepping off the plane, you can see your breath in the tunnel and there are snow piles in there as well. Seriously, that can’t be normal? Well it wasn’t as cold as it had been, but temperatures were around zero for the most part. I have turned into a baby living here with the mild winters; I still wear sweats when it is 70 degrees because I am cold!

Anyways I had a great time with my family; I must have a very good girl this year because Santa treated me quite well. I guess that is why my mom named me Angel(a)..
All I did at home was eat and play the Wii. I have gotten very good at Mario Kart, so please if anyone wants to challenge me, BRING IT ON! My mom is an unbelievable cook, not sure why I didn’t inherit that, however, I ate so much I am pretty sure that I ate South Dakota right off the map!

We brought everyone back on the 29th! Those first practices are always conditioning practices to get the girls legs back. We had two-aday’s, which they absolutely look forward too.

Our first conference game was against Chaminade University. Last year we opened up with a loss against Hilo, so I wanted to make sure that we got off to the right start this year. We won that game 95-36. Every girl got a chance to get some good minutes and I was pleased with everyone’s efforts. So that puts us to 7-5 on the season and 1-0 in conference. We are off till January 17th, when we host Hilo University. Each game is so important from here on out!

We wanted to wish you a Happy New Year – We hope that 2009 is an eventful one for everyone. All our games are broadcasted live from our website so if you get a chance tune in.

GO DSC!

Omaha Nebraska

Omaha, NE- The Dixie State women’s basketball team visited the 3rd grade classrooms at Central Park Elementary School in Omaha, NE. They spent the morning reading and doing crafts with the students of Ms. Larson’s and Ms. Pederson’s classrooms. “It was a great opportunity for our student-athletes to work with students from a different socio-economic background. The students seemed to really respond to our girls,” stated Coach Kristensen. The 3rd grade students were then able to eat lunch with the girls and finished the visit with questions about athletics and college. “At Central Park they put a big emphasis on going to college and having goals. I thought it was great that we were able to provide them with some answers on how to get there and hopefully serve as role models,” says Coach Kristensen.

Bulldogs stand out to play for Dixie

Johnna Brown drew plenty of recruiting interest to play Division I softball or basketball.
But the Centennial senior signed with Division II Dixie State in order to play both.
"It's going to be exciting to see how it turns out," Brown said. "A lot of coaches didn't want to work with me to play two (sports)."
Brown will be joined in women's basketball at Dixie State by Centennial teammates Deanna Daniels and Rashawnda Gray, who also signed with the Rebels during the early signing period (Nov. 12 to 19).
"We were fortunate to get (Brown) because she could have played Division I basketball," said Dixie State coach Angela Kristensen, who envisions the 6-foot Brown playing small forward. "She'll be one of those special kids. It's tough to be an impact player as a freshman, but Johnna has the potential to do that."
At Centennial, Brown is a starting outside hitter in volleyball, forward in basketball and shortstop in softball. She was an all-state selection in basketball and softball as a junior.
"Johnna wanted to go and do multiple sports," Bulldogs basketball coach Karen Weitz said. "(Dixie State) was kind of the window of opportunity for her."
Brown was close to scheduling a visit to Florida State for softball but finally sided with Dixie State to play two sports.
Overlap of schedules will be a hurdle with the Rebels. Dixie State's basketball season ends in March, and softball begins in February.
"The two (Dixie State) coaches talked, and they said, 'We would work it out,' " Brown said.
The Centennial basketball team has attended summer camps on the Dixie State campus, which turned out to be a key to the Bulldogs trio signing with the St. George, Utah, school.
"We'd mess around and say, 'If the three of us go here, that'd be pretty cool,' " Brown said.
Daniels, a power forward, attracted Division I interest from schools including UC Irvine, Weitz said. Gray, a wing who is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, took a visit to San Diego.
But the chance for the trio to play together in Division II apparently was more appealing than playing separately in Division I.

Updates

I realized this week that I haven’t done a very good job of updating this blog – so I am going to try and play catch up. So far it has been filled with a season of some highs and lows but still I am overall very happy with the girls.

We started off with two games in southern California playing San Bernardino and UC San Diego – two teams who made the national tournament last year. We didn’t play very well against Bernardino and ended up losing 62-57. I felt that was a game we could have very easily won, but didn’t play up to our potential. Then we traveled to San Diego a team that starts five girls above 6’0. They also played in the national tournament last year. We battled with them the entire game, got down in the second half by 13 – but came back to tie it. We ran out of gas and came up short and had to foul in the end. Final score was 71-61. I feel this team will be a top team in our region and felt like we were right there – so I took some positives from the weekend even though we went 0-2.

The next weekend we were again on the road at Chico State! We played the host school first and they hadn’t lost a game in 24 home game win streak, which was huge. Chico made the national tournament last year as well and were picked this year to win the CCAA. I was so proud of our girls as we played well. It was a bitter sweet victory though because we lost, Jessica Carver to a season ending knee injury. That is the fourth player from last year’s starting squad that is missing from this team - talk about adversity! Saturday we played Sonoma State – another team that made the national tournament last year. It was a back and forth game, but we just didn’t have enough gas and lost 70-63. This puts us at 1-3.

This past weekend we got to go back to the Midwest. Two of our seniors and Coach Larson are from Iowa (Lindsey Chettinger and Courtney Boyd) along with myself being from South Dakota. We spent Thanksgiving at the Chettinger’s and ate more food than you can possibly imagine! We pretty much ate Iowa right off the map! Saturday we played University of South Dakota – who was National Champion Runner’s up last year at NCAA DII. This year they made the jump to Division I. With four minutes to play in the game we were all tied up – then we only score one point in the final minutes. We had good looks they just didn’t fall and lost 80-62.

Monday we traveled to College of Saint Mary, which is the college that I coached at before coming to Dixie State. We won that game by a score of 100-67. It was a great game for some of our younger girls to get some minutes.

That puts us at 2-4 but we have had a pretty challenging schedule up to this point. We FINALLY have home games this weekend when we host our tournament.

We have had some bad luck with injuries but that is a part of the game. We just have to try different things to get the job done and they are responding well. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and we appreciate your support!

Dixie State Women’s Basketball Signs Two Vegas Prep Players to National Letters of Intent During Early Signing Period

(ST. GEORGE, Utah – November 18, 2008) – Dixie State College of Utah head women’s basketball coach Angela Kristensen announced Tuesday the signing of two players to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period. Both signees, Deanna Daniels, a 5-11 guard/forward, and Rashawnda Gray, a 5-8 guard, are seniors at Las Vegas’ Centennial High School, and have committed to play at DSC in the upcoming 2009-10 season.“Both of these student-athletes are tremendous leaders both on and off the court and we look for them to make an immediate impact for us next season,” Coach Kristensen said. “They’ve both been coached by one of the most successful prep coaches in the country in Karen Weitz, so they are well prepared to play at the collegiate level. With both of these players receiving interest from a number of Division-I schools, we feel very fortunate that they chose to come to Dixie State.”Daniels, who is a three-time all-division and 2007 first-team all-state performer, has helped lead the Bulldogs to an 85-12 overall record, three-straight division titles, one region title and a state runner-up finish in her first three years of play. She averaged nearly a double-double as a junior at 14.0 points and 9.1 rebounds a game, along with 3.8 steals and 2.5 assists per outing. Daniels has also got the job done in the classroom as she has been listed on the honor roll all three years and was named Scholar Athlete as a sophomore.“Deanna has an unbelievable knack for the ball,” Kristensen noted. “She is a tenacious rebounder with very long arms and has a lot of upside as she continues to develop her perimeter skills.”Gray is a three-year letterwinner who got her first chance to start as a junior last season. She responded by averaging 9.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.0 steals at the off-guard position. “Rashawnda is a strong, athletic guard with a quick first step and has the ability to finish around the basket,” Kristensen said. “She is also a consistent shooter from the outside, so we look for her to be able to score a number of different ways.”

Underway By: Coach K

We have been at this now since the day after Labor Day – conditioning, weights, study hall, and classes and now it is officially started! We had 2 weeks of practice before hitting the hardwood for our first exhibition game over the weekend. I have been nothing less than impressed with this group of ladies we have that make up this team. They come to practice every day wanting to get better and giving me everything they have! I respect them for that and hopefully it will all pay off.

We played Southern Utah University this past Saturday evening. Exhibition games are always funny because you never really know what to expect. I like them because win or lose it gives the coaching staff a feel of where you are and what you have to do in order to get better. I feel that each player this year can give us something and that is what I am most proud of!

We didn’t shoot it very well (29% to be exact) but we made up for it in different areas. We had 22 offensive boards to their 7 and that gave us an opportunity to shoot it 14 more times. That might have been the difference in the ball game. They also shoot it from the free throw line better than their coach EVER did in college. I won’t even tell you what my overall percentage but we were 18 of 21 from the charity stripe – which is great!

The win was bittersweet because at the time of the game Southern Utah’s coach, Steve Hudson, was at home battling cancer and he just passed away earlier this morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. We enjoyed the games we played against him and his teams and respect so much what he did for basketball in southern Utah!

We learned a lot about this team and our strengths and weaknesses! We hope we can do better as we head up to play Utah State on Friday and BYU on Saturday! Two weeks until the season officially kicks off!