A hot first quarter start by Hilo allowed the Vikings to hold off Radford 33-28 in the first round of the girls HHSAA Division I playoffs on Tuesday at Kalani High School in Oahu.
A hot first quarter start by Hilo allowed the Vikings to hold off Radford 33-28 in the first round of the girls HHSAA Division I playoffs on Tuesday at Kalani High School in Oahu.
Hilo (11-1 league record, 1-0 HHSAA record) led 15-4 after the first quarter.
The Vikings went up 5-0 on a layup by Shayln Guthier and a 3-pointer by Alexis Pana.
After two points by Radford, Hilo’s Faith Loeak knocked down a shot from beyond the arc.
After a long scoring slump by both teams, a layup by Sharlei Graham Bernisto put the Vikings up by eight.
Hilo’s Pana knocked down another 3 to end the quarter and Mandi Kawaha Amar hit a shot from long range to start the second quarter, giving the Vikings their biggest lead of the game at 18-4.
However, the Rams began their comeback shortly after.
Radford (12-2, 0-1) outscored the Vikings 13-10 and 8-4 in the second and third quarters. Hilo managed to win a very low scoring final eight minutes 4-3.
With the win, Hilo advances to the second round of the playoffs and will play No. 3 seeded Maryknoll at 7 p.m. today. at Kalani.
Scoring was hard to come by for most of the game for the Vikings, especially with the Rams dominating the glass. Radford had a team total of 35 rebounds, picking up 15 from Kyle Johnson and 10 from Shaelie Burgess.
Hilo managed only 15 rebounds, but offensively was able to pick up the win by just outshooting their opponent.
The Vikings attempted 44 shots from the field and 19 from 3-point range while Radford managed only 25 and 3 respectively.
Hilo’s offense was led by Pana, who knocked down three 3-pointers for a game high 11 points. She also had 4 steals and 2 assists while being the only player on the court to play the full 32 minutes. Amar added 9 points, 2 steals and 2 assists. No other player scored more than five points for the Vikings.
For Radford, Burgess managed 11 points and Johnson had 8. The duo also combined for 3 blocked shots.
RAD 4 13 8 3 – 28
HILO 15 10 4 4 – 33