Kamehameha tops Lunas, 61-46; finishes 3-0 in Kaiser tourney

Kamehameha's Tiare Kanoa drives the ball down the court against Lahainaluna. Greg Yamamoto | SL

HAWAI'I KAI - Tiare Kanoa scored a game-high 25 points and defending state champion Kamehameha knocked off defending Maui Interscholastic League champion, 61-46, Saturday night at the Kaiser girls' basketball preseason tournament at the Cougars' gym.

The Warriors went 3-0 in the tournament, beating Moanalua, 71-33, on Thursday and edging Konawaena, 46-44, Friday in a rematch of last year's state championship that that Kamehameha won in overtime, 45-39.

The game started close; the Lunas took a 14-13 lead entering the second quarter. The Lunas took a 22-21 lead with 2:53 in the half when Lindsey Bates converted both ends of a one-and-one. But the Lunas, who had only one field goal in the second quarter, went scoreless after Bates' free throws. The Warriors closed the half with an 9-0 run - six of those points by Kanoa - to take a 30-22 lead into the half and never looked back.

"They look like they're the state champion," Lahainaluna coach Todd Rickard said. "They make little bit mistakes. They get height…they get everything. The road to the state championship goes through them."

It was a long week for the Lunas, who played in the Farrington tournament earlier in the week.

"This is are sixth game of the weekend," Rickard said. "We're doing all right; the kids are learning."

The Lunas spread their scoring around with Bates lead her team with 13 points, followed by Folau Hafoka's 11 and Keleah Akio-Koloi's 10.

Warriors' coach Darold Imanaka suited nine players. He will keep only 10 for now; missing in the tournament was Kealani Ryder, who was on the Mainland to watch her brother, Wave Ryder, play football for Navy. He considered bringing up two from the JV, but didn't want to break up a good team.

"I'm gambling," Imanaka said. "If one (varsity player) goes down, we can't even scrimmage."

Kanoa added 11 points in the third quarter to pad the Warriors' lead to 55-36 entering the fourth. The Lunas went on an 8-0 run at one juncture, but it wasn't enough.

All nine of Kamehameha's players scored. Alohi Robins-Hardy followed Kanoa with 10 points.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].