Maryknoll's Rhianne Omori goes up for a shot against Punahou. Omori scored a team-high 12 points in a win over the Buffanblu. John Lujan | Special to SL

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Sat, Jan 16, 2016 @ Maryknoll

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Punahou

52

Maryknoll

55

Final	1	2	3	4
Punahou (12-3, 19-10)	10	10	11	21	52
Maryknoll (13-2, 23-3)	10	11	13	21	55

R. Omori 12 pts  2/3 FTs

K. Kandiah 19 pts  4 3pm  5/6 FTs

MAKIKI — Rhianne Omori scored a team-high 12 points to help No. 4 Maryknoll to a 55-52 win over No. 3 Punahou before an afternoon crowd of about 300 fans at Clarence T.C. Ching Gymnasium Saturday.

The Spartans (15-1 overall) avenged a 54-51 loss to the Buffanblu (10-7) more than a month ago — their lone blemish on the season — to win their eighth consecutive game.

"We were poised enough to make some plays down the stretch and make enough free throws to kind of keep them at bay and that's the way it goes — that's how games are going to be sometimes," Maryknoll coach Chico Furtado said.

The win gives Maryknoll a one-half game lead on its neighbor to the Mauka side of Wilder Avenue in the Division I standings of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.

"You lose this and I think they've got (the ILH regular-season title). I think they'd pretty much have that first round. Now we still have to go to their place and win a tough game at the end of the year barring anybody dropping one to Kamehameha or Iolani — which is not out of the question," Furtado said.

Eleven different players saw court time for the Spartans, while the Buffanblu used an eight-man rotation and struggled to overcome three first-half fouls apiece by posts Tyra Moe and Vae Malufau.

"I think we got up and down and got into their bench a little bit, because I think we have more depth," Furtado said. "We have nine, ten guys that can go up and down, (but) I think when they get a little deeper into their bench they hurt a little bit."

Omori, a 5-foot-2 sophomore point guard, scored six points in each half, but was pulled early in the game by Furtado.

"Not so much the scoring and stuff, but sometimes the decision-making with passes led to a couple turnovers and I want her to be aggressive — smart, but aggressive — and sometimes I think she just looks tentative," Furtado said. "We went with the second group and they gave us a burst and we ended up tying in at 10 (at the end of the first quarter) and it was back-and-forth the rest of the way."

Omori redeemed herself late in the game by knocking down both ends of a 1-and-1 to end a 4-0 Punahou run and stretch the Maryknoll lead back to four with 19.8 seconds remaining.

"He said for me to start playing my game, start playing basketball and just pick it up," Omori said of her coach's instructions. "He kept pushing me and talking to me to do better."

Kamaile Kandiah drove for a layup with nine seconds left to play to get the Buffanblu within 54-52.

Kodee Viena made a free throw for the Spartans with 1.8 seconds left and Punahou's desperation shot from nearly full court as time expired was well short.

Omori said part of the difference from the last meeting against the Buffanblu was a matter of shot selection.

"I think this one we penetrated more than the last game, rather than settling for 3's and outside shots," Omori said. "We drove it more and we got fouls on the two bigs, so that helped us a lot."

Maryknoll led at halftime, 21-20. There were four ties and 11 lead changes in the game.

Kandiah made three of her four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. She scored 17 of her game-high 19 points after halftime. Moe finished with 13 points, Malufau eight and Elle Uyeda seven for the Buffanblu.

"Definitely having posts out for (most of the) first half impacted us and changed the tempo of our game," Punahou coach Elizabeth Kam said. "That hurt us from the beginning when they were in foul trouble and I had to rest the before the half was done, but at the same time we had opportunities and we just didn't capitalize on offense."

Alexis Delovio came off the bench for nine points and Ysabelle Halemano, Kamalu Kamakawiwoole and Isabella Cravens contributed eight points each for the Spartans, who improved to 7-1 in league play and do not play again until Thursday when they host seventh-ranked Kamehameha.

The Buffanblu dropped their first ILH game to fall to 6-1. They will visit the Warriors Tuesday at Kekuhaupio Gymnasium.

Punahou will host Maryknoll in both team's regular-season finale on Jan. 30.