HHSAA Girls Basketball
Top-ranked Lahainaluna holds off Maryknoll, 61-57


   



Sat, Feb 8, 2014 @ Lahaina Civic


Final 1 2 3 4  
Maryknoll (9-3, 19-5) 17 1816657
Lahainaluna (14-0, 20-2) 16 22 14 961
L. Bates 16 pts  4 3pm
L. Delovio 24 pts
F. Hafoka 8 tot  3 off  5 def
M. Martin 5 tot  3 off  2 def
L. Bates 3 ast
L. Delovio 3 ast

LAHAINA, Maui — Lahainaluna went largely unchallenged this season on Maui, but passed their first real test Saturday night in the form of a scrappy Maryknoll squad.

Led by twin sisters Lindsey and Taylor Bates, the Lunas escaped with a 61-57 win over the Spartans in a regional final of the Hawaiian Airlines/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Girls Basketball State Championships. A crowd of about 1,500 mostly red-clad fans at the Lahaina Civic Center was on hand as top-seeded Lahainaluna — also the No. 1-ranked team in the ScoringLive/OC16 Power Rankings — improved to 15-0 to advance into next week's final four on Oahu. The Lunas will play Hilo in a 5 p.m. semifinal Friday at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium.

"We were fortunate toward the end to have some bounces go our way and we came out with the victory, but Maryknoll is tough," Lahainaluna coach Todd Rickard said. "My hats off to Maryknoll — they're a solid, tough team — it could have gone either way."
Lindsey Bates scored 11 of her team-high 16 points in the first half and finished 6-of-11 shooting from the field to go with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. Taylor Bates scored all of her 12 points in the before halftime. Fiemea Hafoka and Folau Hafoka each scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds. Folau Hafoka also recorded five of the Lunas' 13 steals.

"We just had to have energy and confidence in each other and I knew we could do it," Taylor Bates said.

Lahainaluna shot 41.2 percent (21 of 51) from the field for the game, including 50 percent (13 of 26) in the first half. The Lunas were prolific from behind the arc, making 10 of their 18 3-pointers, including 8 of 12 before halftime. They overcame early foul trouble — three players had three fouls in the first half — and 17-of-21 free-throwing shooting by Maryknoll, which was led by Alexis Delovio's game-high 24 points.

"It was very difficult, but that's the way we play defense," Rickard said of the fouls. "We don't want that many fouls, but that's how we play. We play fast and aggressive. We had a little foul trouble, but we won the game and that's all that matters."

The teams played a back-and-forth first half. Maryknoll used a 7-3 run at the end of the first quarter to take a slim 17-16 advantage into the second. However, Lahainaluna stormed back to outscore the visitors 22-18 in the period and led at halftime, 38-35.

The Lunas stretched their lead to 50-40 with 2:55 left in the third quarter on a jumper by Lindsey Bates that capped a 9-0 run.

"We were on the verge of getting blown out a couple of times, but it was a testament to my girls," Maryknoll coach Chico Furtado said. "They came up here, laid it on the line, they gave it their all. We were close to being dead in the water a couple times and we battled back."

The Spartans were down, but not out. Delovio drove for a layup to ignite a 13-2 run that was ended with Maia Laboy's jumper early in the fourth quarter that gave Maryknoll a 53-52 win. The teams were tied at 55 with 3:32 remaining, but Lahainaluna took a four-point lead following a pair of free throws by Folau Hafoka with 2:59 left in the game. Maya Chang-Rodriguez hit a jumper at the 1:26 mark to pull within 59-57 and had a chance to tie or take the lead following a Lahainaluna turnover.

Delovio missed mid-range jumper with about 25 seconds to play, but Kaile Cambra grabbed the offensive rebound. Furtado called a timeout with 20 seconds left, but Delovio missed a long two-pointer and Folau Hafoka grabbed the loose ball for Lahainaluna. Erlanda Basques was fouled with 1.1 seconds remaining and hit both free throws to seal it.

Lahainaluna, which entered the game averaging 75.4 points scored against 22 points allowed per game, blew away most of their competition on Maui this season. The Lunas average margin of victory was than 50 points per game. Their closest game was a 56-24 win over King Kekaulike on Dec. 20.

"Some of our girls were losing their composure a little bit, but they just kind of focused in and just stayed tough until the end," Rickard said.

Each Bates sister hit four 3-pointers and the Lunas outrebounded the Spartans, 50 to 25. They had as many offensive rebounds as Maryknoll had total rebounds.

"I knew what to expect and I tried to prepare my girls," Furtado said. "I thought we handled it sometimes and sometimes we didn't, but I was really proud of the way we handled the back end — when we did break it, we made them pay — and I think that made the game close. If we break press and we don't score, then we're done. Lahainaluna plays that way all the time and whoever plays them will have to be ready because they're going to keep coming."

The Spartans, who were the runners-up from the Interscholastic League of Honolulu and the No. 6-ranked team in the SL/OC16 Power Rankings, had won five of their last six, including a 47-33 win over Kailua in Friday's first round. They end the season at 10-4.

The Lunas, who won their 10th consecutive Maui Interscholastic League title, had a first-round bye and did not play since Jan. 24.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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