Tianna Hanohano puts up a shot as the Lady Hawks pass host team Radford Friday night. CJ Caraang | SL

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Fri, Jan 16, 2015 @ Radford

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Nanakuli

38

Radford

36

Final	1	2	3	4
Nanakuli (10-3, 10-5)	9	5	6	18	38
Radford (11-3, 13-6)	7	5	11	13	36

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

T. Elbourne 16 pts  1 3pm  3/6 FTs

A. Nuuanu 14 pts  3 3pm  1/5 FTs

T. Elbourne 8 tot  4 off  4 def

T. Hanohano 8 tot  3 off  5 def

S. Dill 1 ast

C. Enos 1 ast

ALIAMANU — In a playoff-type atmosphere, Nanakuli edged out Radford, 38-36 at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium on Friday night. The win helps the Golden Hawks improve to 6-2 to force a three-way tie for second in the Oahu Interscholastic Association West Division I standings.

"This was a big win for us, we needed this," said Nanakuli coach Randy Kauhane. "It keeps in the hunt for second and anything can happen. We came out of a hard loss to Mililani, but it's how you play after defeat. We told them in the pregame that your back is up against the wall and you have to finish and want it more."

Alana Nuuanu led Nanakuli with 14 points and made three 3-pointers. She had two big buckets down the stretch and scored 11 of her 14 in the fourth quarter.

"Alana is a very good sophomore, she's definitely a key, we don't have one great player and any given day anyone can step up. Alana stepped up today for us," said Kauhane.

"We worked hard for it, all the hard work paid off in the end," said Nuuanu.

Jade Marfil scored nine points and Tianna Hanohano had six of her seven steals in the first half to go along with eight points and eight boards.

Radford's Jasmine Moody tied the game at 31 after sinking 1 of 2 free throws. Nuuanu hit a 3-pointer to give the Lady Hawks a brief 34-31 lead before Moody's 3-point play made it 34-33. Nuuanu hit a long jumper to push the lead back up to 36-33. She made 1 of 2 free throws to make it 37-33 with 26.2 seconds remaining.

"My teammates, if it wasn't for them, then I wouldn't have those open shots. If it wasn't for my teammates driving all the time and leaving me with those shots, it wouldn't happen," said Nuuanu.

Tanisha Elbourne nailed a long jumper to make it 37-35. Elbourne, who's only a freshman gave her team a boost to score 13 of her 16 points in the second half. Moody added 11 points before fouling out with 37.9 seconds left in the fourth.

"The thing I'm proud of them tonight was they played hard and even when Nanakuli made big 3's at the end and took that lead, I was looking at my players to see how they would react and I'm glad they didn't gave up and played hard until the last second," said first-year Radford coach Charles Chong.

Nanakuli's Ciera O'Brien hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 38-35 with 9.6 seconds left. Salara Dill, another freshman pulled up from the JV squad hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 38-36 with 6.1 seconds and off the miss, Radford had a chance, but the comeback came up short as O'Brien ended up with the ball to dribble time off the clock.

"We gave ourselves a chance to win and we did. The ball bounced a little to the left or right, maybe we got a shot off and get a YouTube moment out of the night, but that didn't happen so that's how the game goes and we'll pick up from there," said Chong.

Radford ended up with 27 turnovers for the game while Nanakuli committed 14 turnovers. Rams committed 13 first half turnovers, but trailed 14-12 at halftime.

"Our defense was excellent in the first half and we have to capitalize on our opportunities. That's the type of basketball we play, we don't capitalize tonight— we get the steals and just throw up the ball, we have to finish," said Kauhane.

"I asked them, ‘How many if you would like those rushed passes back?' We stressed having balance and poise, they understand their mistakes and the fact we made that many turnovers and to be able to stay in the game says a lot and it shows if we get our act together we can win more basketball games," said Chong.

Radford took a 23-20 lead going into the fourth quarter.

"I told them this will be an interesting matchup and it will come down to who makes the least amount of mistakes and who wants it more. Sure enough it came down to a last ditch effort to win the game," said Chong.

Both teams struggled at the free throw line: Nanakuli went 9 of 22 (40.9 percent) while Radford shot 7 of 20 (35 percent).

Nanakuli will play at Waianae (5-3) on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. while Radford plays at Aiea (3-5) on the same night and same time.