Kaiser's Brooke Ho drives to the basket against Leilehua. Ho scored five points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds in a win over the Mules. Peter Caldwell | SL

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02111610_1602_Kona-Pun_006.jpg - Peter Caldwell | SL

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SALT LAKE – Party crashers, these Cougars.

Unseeded Kaiser held No. 6 Leilehua to eight second-half points in a 34-27 quarterfinal win at the OC16 Division I girls state basketball tournament Wednesday at Moanalua.

The Cougars (13-8) advance to semifinals for the first time since 1989 and will meet defending state champion and top-ranked Konawaena (24-1), 5 p.m. Thursday at Moanalua.

"Oh, my gosh," Kaiser coach Simon Bitanga said. "This was a big one … The girls faced a lot of adversity the whole year and we came through tonight."

Among those who delivered was Shimaoka, who shared the team lead in scoring with Lyla Kaneaiakala with 10 points each.

"This feels amazing," Kaiser's Roselyn Shimaoka said. "All the hard work just paid off. We kind of surprised some people making it to semifinals, but we just play with our hearts."

The fourth-seeded Mules (16-5) – the only seeded team to fall in the quarterfinals – will play No. 4 Punahou at 5 p.m. in a fifth-place semifinal Thursday at Kalani.

"It's a heart-broken game for the seniors," Leilehua coach Elroy Dumlao said. "We did our best as coaches and as a team. We told our kids hold your head up high. Success sometimes is not based on winning games and championships. What we try to do is do your best. If you do your best, it makes you feel a little bit better."

The Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I champion Mules dominated the first quarter in taking a 12-5 lead. But the Cougars began chipping away in the second period to cut its deficit to 19-17 at the half. Kaiser then completely took over the second half. The Mules only were held to one point in the third period, but did not get their first second-half field goal until Chyel Palmer's jumper at 4:14 left in the game.

"Our bread and butter is our defense," Bitanga said. "Man-to-man, whatever we could do. Sometimes it's going to work and sometimes it's not going to work. We played them the last time man-to-man and they burned us all the way. Tonight was our night. I'm happy for our girls."

Everything fell apart for Leilehua in the third period, when it only managed a free throw by Abbott at the 4:11 mark. The teams exchanged turnovers, but the Cougars made two more field goals than the Mules, both 3-pointers by Skylar Kimura and Shimaoka that help put the Mules up 26-20 entering the fourth.

The Mules did pull to within 29-27 after a layup by Palmer with 1:30 left. Kaiser increased its lead with 58 seconds when Kimura converted the front-end of a bonus. Leilehua, though, missed its next four shots as time clicked away. The Cougars sealed the game when they made their last four free throws in the final 34 seconds.

"We kind of got exposed a little bit," Dumlao said. "Dribbling is one of our weaknesses…We got a little bit complacent. We couldn't run stuff. They ran a box-and-one. We threw other stuff at them to get away from their pressure, but unfortunately, our shots weren't dropping, the key ones we needed. Great job of them to come out with that game plan, put pressure on us. We got exposed."

Abbott led the Mules with eight points and 10 rebounds. Tianna Hanohano, a key player in the OIA championship, finished with six points, which all came in the first half. Palmer also had six points for the Mules.