MAKIKI—Maegen Martin's go-ahead basket with 10 seconds remaining capped a furious rally as Maryknoll stunned Punahou, 47-46 on Thursday night at Maryknoll's Clarence T.C. Ching Gymnasium.

"Unreal," said Maryknoll coach Chico Furtado. "The only thing I got to say the fight in my kids was unbelievable. They never gave up and kept battling and played to our strength down the stretch. I hope this catapults us in the right direction."

"I started off slow, but didn't contribute that much in the first half. I couldn't let that get to me and as a captain I had to be a leader and I wasn't doing that much because I was frustrated with myself," said Martin. "I knew I couldn't let that affect my performance and I had to help the team out since we were down by a lot. I'm proud of the way we played under adversity and we can go up from here." 

With the win, Maryknoll sits on top the Interscholastic League of Honolulu standings at 5-0, while Punahou drops to 4-1.

"It's one of those things, again we go back and take it as a learning lesson to get better. Credit to Chico's team and they stayed with it and played resilient. It's always a hard-fought game in the ILH. We were up 17 and maybe relaxed a little, but that's no excuse, the kids have to come to play and have to love these moments," said Punahou coach Kevin Velasco.

Following a Maryknoll timeout, Alexis Delovio drove and as Punahou defenders converged on her, she dumped it to Martin, who laid it up from the left block with 10.0 seconds left on the clock.

"He set it up where I would screen down for Lexi and she'll get the ball and I would post up, but Tyra was a little out and they both came and she drove and I just stayed at the block and I knew I was open. She has good basketball IQ and good vision and she was able to find me. It did fall a little short and I got a little nervous, but it went in," said Martin, on the game-winning play.

Punahou inbounded the ball and hurried down court, but Ysabelle Halemano had the steal and Delovio ended up with the ball as the buzzer sounded and the crowd went wild.

"We had to take care of the ball and we relied on each other. We pressed them and we got steals and buckets and it boosted our confidence. Ysabelle was very critical, she had a steal at the end," said Maryknoll guard Rhianne Omori.

"I think they were pressing a bit and usually we have Kamaile who takes care of our ball handling, but I tell them, if someone goes down, someone has to step up," said Velasco.

Kamaile Kandiah hurt her knee and was held out for precautionary reasons according to Velasco.

The Lady Spartans trailed 37-27 heading into the fourth quarter, but they chipped away. Maryknoll went on a 9-1 run after Delovio's shot to make it, 38-36.

"Not to give up, stay together and finish strong and we pulled out a victory" said Delovio, on coach Furtado's message to the team in the fourth quarter.

Punahou pushed it back up to 45-38 after Tyra Moe converted the 3-point play with 1:52 remaining. Lindsey Lee drained a 3-pointer and Kaile Cambra's drive brought the Lady Spartans back to make it 45-43 with 1 minute remaining. Delovio tied the game at 45 with a pair of free throws.

Moe and Vae Malufau combined for 1 of 4 from the free throw line down the stretch as Punahou led 46-45 with 21.9 seconds remaining. Coach Furtado called a timeout at 16.9 seconds to discuss what would set up the game-winning basket.

"I just wanted to make sure we got an attempt," said Furtado. "We switched up what we usually to do and we had a big come screen for Lexi and I wanted the ball in her hands I wanted her to make a decision, she penetrated, I think she penetrated enough times during the course of the game that she forced help. Once she forced help, she was able to find Maegen and she finished."

The Lady Spartans overcame a poor shooting performance from the free throw line and went 10 of 28 (35.7 percent) for the game.

"It's been a challenge all year and we'll go back to work on that. We're trying to get our kids to understand the importance of that. We did a little bit better down the stretch, but again the defensive end in the second half and we had some good stops. They had some mismatches inside, but we battled and that was the difference," said Furtado.

Maryknoll managed to cut the deficit to single digits and went on a 5-0 run after Delovio's steal in the third quarter. Elle Uyeda pushed the lead back to 10 heading into the fourth after she made two free throws. She finished with a team-high 13 points and sank two 3-pointers.

The Buffanblu went on a 12-0 run to start the second quarter, to go up, 26-12. Lindsey Lee hit Maryknoll's first field goal of the quarter at the 1:15 mark after she hit a 3-pointer from the right wing. Sunny Rosario's drive beat the buzzer as Punahou went up, 28-17 at halftime.

"Punahou's D is very good and took away the interior and Maegen had a hard time, we've been struggling shooting the ball. Offense is something we're working on and get better hopefully as the kids get confidence and that will come around," said Furtado.

"From the start, we had to bring it and we knew we had to play hard because they are a good team too. We started off slow, but as the game progressed, because we were down by a lot it gave us motivation and confidence and we knew we could keep up with them," said Martin.

Martin had to battle against Punahou's post players, Moe and Malufau for the game and managed to do so despite being in foul trouble. She finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Moe scored 12 points and added 11 rebounds, while Malufau scored six. 

"We played club together and kind of knew what they had and what their strengths were, I knew where to go and what to do against them. It came to me today and I know I had to bring it—not much in the first, but in the second. I knew they were counting on me and they expected a lot," said Martin.

The Lady Spartans shot 4 of 14 (28.6 percent) from the free throw line in the first half, while the Buffanblu shot 6 of 8 (75 percent). Punahou finished the game 18 of 26 (69.2 percent).

Punahou hopes to rebound and plays Sacred Hearts on Saturday, Jan. 10 while Maryknoll travels to Mid-Pacific on the same night. The Lady Spartans and Buffanblu will play again at Hemmeter Fieldhouse on Saturday, Jan. 24 in the ILH regular season finale.

"We have to teach the kids that there's still a tomorrow and we'll see them again. We'll take what we didn't do well and take what we did well and just work on those things to get better," said Velasco.