Fiemea Hafoka and Mikayla Pivec are each celebrating Maui homecomings this week.

Both NCAA Division I guards will play in the Maui Jim Maui Classic women’s college basketball tournament today and Thursday at the Lahaina Civic Center.

Hafoka, a senior at San Jose State University, is simply home, back on the island where she grew up.

She read to and played basketball with youngsters at Kihei Elementary School — where she attended — on Tuesday and will lead the Spartans (8-3) onto the LCC floor where she played home games for Lahainaluna High School.

“It was awesome, it’s just like a full circle, I think that being able to go back to where it all started really means the world to me,” Hafoka said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity my coaches, BasketballMaui and Vertical Sports gave me to be able to go back — I don’t know, it just felt so great to be back there.”

Hafoka felt right at home — she saw several of her former teachers and got to also play hoops with some of the kids at recess, including a few of her younger cousins.

“I was mentioning that I knew every single one of my teachers from that school from kindergarten to fifth grade and I think that means a lot, especially the teachers and the impact they had on me and the school itself,” Hafoka said. “It just brought back so many memories. Overall, the kids were just super excited to see me and my teammates. … It was super fun. I just remember being on that court, I was out there every single recess, every single time.”

SJSU will play BYU (4-4) tonight and Northern Arizona on Thursday — both games are at 5:30 p.m.

Pivec leads No. 4-ranked Oregon State into the fourth annual event as a senior — she has played in each version of the tournament that the Beavers host.

Oregon State (9-0) plays Northern Arizona (2-5) tonight and BYU on Thursday — both games are scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

The Beavers have built a relationship with the island in just their three-year history here. They and the other teams in the field read to elementary children each year.

“It’s an awesome opportunity for our program to host on Maui, we love coming here every year,” Pivec said. “To interact with local kids at elementary schools, as well as to get closer as a team and get to experience this culture, it’s different that what we have back home. It’s just a lot of good things that we appreciate.”

The Beavers know that the back-to-back games can simulate the Pacific-12 Conference tournament in March. The league currently features three of the top four teams in The Associated Press Top 25, including No. 1 Stanford.

“These are huge games for us because Pac-12 play is coming up real soon,” Pivec said. “We have three more games before Pac-12 starts, so that’s not much time that we have left. This is a great opportunity for us to get better and grow as a team. … This tournament here will prepare us for Pac-12 play.”

Pivec leads the Beavers at 16.1 points per game — she shoots 57.9 percent from the field. Her backcourt mate, Destiny Slocum, is averaging 14.6 points, and Taylor Jones averages 13.6 points and 6.8 rebounds in less than 20 minutes per game while shooting 64.6 percent. Aleah Goodman is at 10.8 points per game.

The Beavers shoot 50.2 percent as a team, while limiting opponents to 32.9 percent.

Oregon State coach Scott Rueck developed the idea of the tournament with local organizers from BasketballMaui, and the event has flourished.

“We’re super excited to be back and watch this tournament continue to grow and develop,” Rueck said. “It’s neat now to have a group of seniors that have run the gamut. They’ve been part of it all four years of their career and it’s fun for me to watch. They don’t take it for granted, they look forward to it and they understand how important it is.

“They love this community — all of us do. It’s fun for us to pour into this community and also be supported by it.”

Rueck noted that a large booster group made the trip to follow the Beavers, who are at the highest AP ranking in school history for the second week in a row.

“I feel great, this is a team that has a lot of veterans on it and some talented newcomers,” Rueck said. “We’re starting two freshmen and they just continue to evolve. Every game, they get better and better. When you ask how good we can be, there’s really not a ceiling on this team. I think we’re just going to keep getting better throughout the year — we’ve just got a massive upside.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

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Maui Jim Maui Classic

At Lahaina Civic Center

Today’s Games

San Jose State vs. BYU, 5:30 p.m.

No. 4 Oregon St. vs. Northern Arizona, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday’s Games

San Jose State vs. Northern Arizona, 5:30 p.m.

No. 4 Oregon St. vs. BYU, 7:30 p.m.