KAILUA-KONA — Get in, get out, get ready.
That was the strategy for both Kohala and Kamehameha-Hawaii in the BIIF Division II semifinals on Thursday at Kealakehe Gymnasium.
Both squads did, but in very different ways, locking up spots in the DII championship today at 6 p.m. at Kealakehe and berths in the HHSAA state tournament.
The defending champion and top-seeded Warriors opened the day with a lopsided 55-11 victory over No. 4 Pahoa.
Junior forward Taylor James-Sullivan led the way for Kamehameha with a full stat line, highlighted by a 15-point effort. Jordan Mantz added 10, and Dominique Pacheco and Saydee Aganus each had eight.
The Warriors raced out to a 12-0 lead and a 32-9 edge at half before mixing up the rotation for the final two quarters to coast to the victory.
“For us to be able to come out strong was important,” Kamehameha head coach Weston Willard said. “We want to be able to dictate the pace and style of play.”
Kamehameha didn’t spend a lot of time celebrating. They were out of the building before the next game tipped, heading back east to rest of for the championship — and Friday’s classes.
In that game, second-seeded Kohala had a tough time handling Ka‘u, a team it beat by a healthy 18-point margin in the regular season.
After a back-and-forth affair that rarely strayed from being a one-possession game, the Cowgirls wrangled their first lead of the fourth quarter at the six-minute mark and used late free throws to clinch a 39-34 victory.
“Closer than it should have been,” Kohala head coach Jake Hook said. “The pace was too slow for us. We struggled with our shooting and lacked a bit of defensive intensity.”
Kohala sophomore center Mikayla Kekoa notched a double-double, hauling in 14 rebounds and putting away 12 points. She fouled out late, but did her damage early executing on pick and rolls for six points in the first quarter.
Kekoa’s early success forced the Trojans to transition from a man-to-man defense to a zone look, which made buckets scarce for the Cowgirls.
With Kohala on a scoring drought, Ka‘u found space on the fast break and from range once Alysha Gustafson-Savella found her stroke from 3-point land. She nailed three 3-pointers and accounted for 11 of the Trojans 13 points in the second quarter, giving the Ka‘u a 19-17 edge heading into half.
The teams stayed close until the final few minutes, where Kohala knocked down 8-of-10 from the line to seal the win.
“Ka‘u made some tough shots,” Hook said. “But our girls never gave up, fought back and we hit the free throws when we needed it.”
The Trojans’ win locked in a rematch of last year’s title game. Kamehameha won that contest 57-48 to reclaim the BIIF title for the first time since 2013, which might have been a sign of things to come.
“I feel we are better at this point than we were last year,” Willard said of his roster that boats just one senior but a wealth of experience.
The bar is set fairly high for the Warriors before the first dribble is taken most seasons. They have won the DII state title four times (2005, ’07, 12’ and ’13), and have been the runner-up five times, including a stinging 44-31 loss to Hawaii Baptist in the title game last season.
“We felt that we didn’t play our best in that championship game,” Willard said. “But all of our captains are juniors who have been on varsity since they were freshmen. They have more experience, more time playing together in the system and can execute a little better.”
The Warriors aren’t looking past Kohala, however. In their regular season tilt, which Kamehameha won 46-36, the Cowgirls held a five-point lead after the first quarter until the Warriors assumed control in the second.
“They have a great post player and they always play hard” Willard said. “It’s going to be a competitive game and we love that.”
The expectations couldn’t be different for Kohala, which is seeking its first BIIF title since 1991 and locked up back-to-back berths in the state tourney for the first time in the division classification era, which started in 2004.
When the Cowgirls made it to the state stage last year, they won a pair of games before getting bumped by eventual champion Hawaii Baptist in the semis.
“The girls are excited to go to states,” Hook said. “We lost a lot of players from last season, but I think we are finding our groove and coming around.”
