KONAWAENA BREEZES INTO TITLE GAME; WILL FACE IOLANI ADVERTISING BY KIM BAXTER SPECIAL TO WEST HAWAII TODAY HONOLULU — The Konawaena girls basketball team was ready for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I state championship game. The Wildcats
KONAWAENA BREEZES INTO
TITLE GAME;
WILL FACE IOLANI
BY KIM BAXTER
SPECIAL TO WEST HAWAII TODAY
HONOLULU — The Konawaena girls basketball team was ready for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I state championship game.
The Wildcats had pulled away in the second half from a feisty Kahuku team Thursday and were cruising to the win. Coach Bobbie Awa emptied her bench, save for one starter, Dawnyelle Awa, her daughter and the primary ball-handler.
Everything was going as planned, and the final seconds were supposed to be a mere formality before top-seeded Konawaena qualified for its fourth straight state title game.
Then one of those freaky basketball plays happened, and during a scrum under the basket for a rebound, a Kahuku player fell on Dawnyelle Awa’s left leg, re-injuring an ankle she hurt during practice on Feb. 1, just before last weekend’s Big Island Interscholastic Federation tournament.
With 17.5 seconds left in what became a 60-42 semifinal victory at Honolulu’s Neal Blaisdell Center, Awa limped off the court in obvious pain. As she took off her ankle brace and ankle tape, her left ankle was obviously bruised and swollen.
It was a serious concern hanging over the team, which hovered around Awa after the win rather than celebrate being one step closer to sealing its second straight crown. Though her effectiveness in Friday’s championship game against Iolani is uncertain, she promised she would play in the game. Tipoff is 7 p.m., and the game will be televised on OC-16.
“We’re not going down,” said Dawnyelle Awa, a senior who scored 16 points against Kahuku. “We’re not going down. This is our last year. We can’t go out with a loss.”
Konawaena (26-3) will play for its third championship in five years and the state’s first back-to-back titles since Punahou repeated in 2006. This is the first time Iolani (13-1) has reached the title game since 2008.
“There’s no question that Kona is THE team, but we’ll see what happens,” said Iolani coach Eddie Maruyama, whose team knocked off third-seeded Lahainaluna 51-34 in the other semifinal. “We’ll show up and give them a game hopefully.”
Konawaena has played Iolani, the second-seeded team and the top team from the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, in the past two state tournaments. Both times, the teams met in the semifinals at Neal Blaisdell Center, and both times, the Wildcats stomped the Raiders.
But that’s ancient history to a Konawaena team looking to cement its four-year dynasty.
“It’s a brand new day, a brand new game,” said senior star Lia Galdeira, who finished with 16 points against Kahuku (13-5). “It’s like we never played them before.”
Iolani is led by senior guard Kylie Maeda, who has scored 36 total points and hit five 3-pointers in her two state tournament games. The 5-foot-7 Maeda has committed to play basketball for BYU. But the Raiders will be without key forward Alex Masaquel, who suffered a broken leg in January.
Even still, Iolani worries Bobbie Awa.
“Iolani is a great team and a great-coached team,” said the coach who has won four state titles at Konawaena. “It’s never easy when we play them. They’re fast, they’re quick, they pressure the ball up the court, (and) they make you work. They can shoot the ball, they attack the basket. They’ve got bigs, and they’ve got smalls. They’re a very, very well-rounded team. Yeah, it’s not going to be a cakewalk. No way. We’re really going to have to work.”
With Dawnyelle Awa’s gimpy left ankle, Konawaena will lean even more on Galdeira and junior forward Courtney Kaupu, who tossed in 13 points in each of her two games.
“She’s one of the main ingredients in our team,” Awa said of her daughter. “But things happen, and other girls will just have to step it up.”
Konawaena 17 18 11 14 60
Kahuku 14 11 8 9 42
c Mililani 37, Waiakea 36 (OT): Junior forward Kapili Amamalin scored 11 points, and junior center Kaylee Torres added 10 to eliminate the BIIF runner-up Warriors in a fifth-place bracket semifinal.
Waiakea led 27-19 after three quarters, but Mililani outscored the Warriors 14-6 in the fourth period to send the game into overtime.
Junior guard Keani Shirai scored seven points, while senior guard Ciera Pacheco, junior forward Sefulu Faavae and junior center Daven Namohala-Roloos had six each for Waiakea (12-3), which loses four seniors in Alyssa Ferreira, Tricia Amuimuia, Taesha Aina and Pacheco.
Mililani 4 12 3 14 4 — 37
Waiakea 9 10 8 6 3 — 36
Division II
c Kamehameha-Hawaii 38, Maryknoll 30: Casey Poe was brilliant, once again. One day after scoring 22 points against Hawaii Baptist in the quarterfinals, she dropped 15 points in the semifinals, pushing the Warriors into the championship game for the third time in the past four years.
OC-16 will broadcast the championship between Kamehameha (12-2) and Kauai (13-2) at 5 p.m. today.
The Warriors finished as state runner-up three times, falling to Radford in 2011, Molokai in 2009 and Kalani in 2006.
Kamehameha beat St. Francis 55-49 for the state title in 2005, then thumped Sacred Hearts 57-30 for another championship in 2007.
Against the ILH champion Spartans, the Warriors trailed 21-20 after three quarters but went on an 18-9 fourth-period outburst to pull away.
Namele Naipo-Arsiga added eight points and Chelsea Poe had six for Kamehameha.
Ashlee DeSantos scored 10 points, and Crystie Wong had seven for Maryknoll (14-1).
Hawaii Baptist 14 11 10 7 — 42
KS-Hawaii 16 16 12 13 — 57
c Kauai 34, Hawaii Prep 33: Junior guard Kristle Henry scored 17 points, and junior center Kawehi Louis-Diamond added nine for the Kauai Interscholastic Federation champion Red Raiders, who took a 28-24 lead in their state semifinal at Radford before holding on to beat BIIF No. 3 seed HPA.
Kauai (13-2) will take on BIIF champion Kamehameha (12-2) in today’s 5 p.m. Division II final at Neal Blaisdell Center.
Ka Makani (9-6) will play ILH champion Maryknoll (14-1) at 9 a.m. today in the tournament’s third-place game.
Senior forward Leahi Lindsey paced HPA with 17 points, and sophomore guard Chancis Fernandez added eight.
Kauai 10 10 8 6 — 34
Hawaii Prep 9 8 7 9 — 33
c Radford 50, Honokaa 42: Junior Korie Johnson led a balanced scoring attack with 13 points for the Rams, who surged past BIIF runner-up Honokaa in the second half of a fifth-place bracket semifinal at Oahu’s Kalani High after trailing 18-17 at intermission.
Senior forward Brittany Perry added 12 points, senior guard Rachel Kapesi followed with 10, and junior forward Imani Wimbush had eight for OIA champion Radford (10-5).
The Rams, last year’s Division II state champion, shot just 44 percent from the free-throw line (12-for-27) but enjoyed many more opportunities from the charity stripe than Honokaa (3-of-11)
Junior forward Yvonne Daniels and sophomore guard Shemika Frazier each scored 11 points, and senior forward Precious Chong added nine for the Dragons, who ended their season 8-7.
Honokaa 7 11 9 15 — 42
Radford 7 10 14 19 — 50
