Kahuku's Tailele Wily-Ava and Kailua's Myah Galdeira battles for a loose ball in the fourth quarter of an OIA East matchup. Michael Lasquero | SL

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KAILUA — Great news for the program on the North Shore.

The hype is real.

No. 7 Kahuku remained unbeaten in OIA East play as it handed host Kailua its first loss of the regular season, 66-33, Saturday night at Harry Murai Gymnasium.

Four players scored in double figures for the Red Raiders (10-5 overall, 7-0 league) as they tallied 25 steals and won the rebounding battle, 43 to 22, to dominate the Surfriders (11-7, 6-1).

Point guard Posia Wily led all scorers with 16 points and 10 rebounds while adding six steals, five assists and two made 3-pointers. Makana Kamakeeaina also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards, Tailele Wily-Ava notched 11 points with a game-high seven steals and Elisa Holakeituai notched 12 points off the bench to round out the top scorers for Kahuku.

Wily has been a mainstay throughout the program over the years, but the additions of Kamakeeaina, Holakeituai and Wily-Ava has reinforced the team into a title contender. Kamakeeaina and Holakeituai transferred back to their home district school from Damien and Maryknoll respectively while Wily-Ava is a freshman.

"We have a good group of girls," said Kahuku coach Artevia Wily-Ava. "We got pretty good size this year."

The Red Raiders were also coming off a 118-17 home win over Kalaheo just two days prior. Coach Wily-Ava said it was a game where the bench played more than the starters.

"We're trying to get them like the girls that come off the bench can fill in for the starters to where it's not such a big gap," said coach Wily-Ava. "They're still learning, we just got girls that don't play year-long basketball."

Kahuku gets it done with defense. The Red Raiders have experimented with a man-to-man defense, 1-2-2 and 2-3 zones trying to find what works against the opposing teams.

Against Kailua, it was a zone defense the whole game. Shooters on the perimeter were left wide-open by the Red Raiders, but their length and size easily got into the passing lane to generate transition buckets.

The Surfriders held leads of 2-0 and 7-6 in the first quarter, but the game quickly got out of hand with Kahuku's takeaways and offensive rebounds as the visitors led 18-9 after the opening period.

The ballooned to 35-12 at the half as the Red Raiders held Kailua without a field goal in the second quarter until there was 31 seconds left before the intermission.

Kahuku would cruise to an overwhelming victory and led by as many as 36 points in the second half.

Kiani Hoolulu led the Surfriders in the loss with 15 points and Miyah Galdeira banked a triple at the end of regulation to finish with 11 points.