By Parker Lee

| Special to The Tribune

The rap on the Hunter girls basketball team is that the Woverines have one good player — Dezz Ramos. Shut her down and you shut the whole team down.

That may have been the case early in the season, but not anymore.

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At a glance

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Matagi shining for Hunter

Tess Matagi has scored at least 11 points in five of Hunter’s last nine games. She is second on the team in scoring with 7.4 points per game.

Matagi plays basketball, softball and volleyball for Hunter.

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The Wolverines have found another contributor, sophomore Tess Matagi. She said she knew coming into the season that her team would need her to be a key component.

"Playing last year as a freshman, I knew that I would have to step up this year," Matagi said. "Last year showed me that high school is totally different than junior high basketball. I realized that I needed to get a lot better."

Matagi averaged about 4 points per game as a freshman, and she stayed true to that average through the first four games of this season. Then in Hunter’s fifth game of the year against Judge Memorial, Matagi turned it on. She scored 14 points in that game and has averaged 9.8 points per game since then.

Not only has Matagi learned how to score, but she has done it while learning a new position. Matagi has always played guard, but Hunter’s lack of size forced head coach Todd Wood to move her into the post.

"She has done a great job adjusting," Wood said. "She still has some things to work on, but she is extremely athletic, and athleticism makes up for a lot."

One of the reasons for Matagi’s advanced athletic ability is that she plays sports all year round. In addition to being on the basketball team at Hunter, she plays on the softball and volleyball teams.

"I think always playing has helped me with conditioning," Matagi said. "I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t playing something all the time."

Wood said her sports career will not end after high school.

"She will go to college and play one of those three sports, whichever one she chooses," he said. "I hope to see her face in the paper as an all-state player, not just in basketball. She has the potential to do that, and she has the potential to be a [Division I] athlete."

More than just athleticism or scoring, Matagi has stepped up as a leader. Wood said she has been a great example to the other players of how they do things at Hunter. He said her teammates look up to her, and it doesn’t matter that she is a sophomore.

With Matagi’s leadership and scoring ability, Hunter has a legitimate inside presence to complement Ramos on the outside. With those two feeding off each other, the Wolverines have a chance to make some noise in the state tournament. Matagi said her biggest goal is to help the team to do that.

"We are excited about the state playoffs and we hope we can go far," Matagi said. "I just want to get better every day, as a player and as a person, so that I can do my part."