Despite being down by 11 points with just over three minutes left to play, the Nanakuli girls' basketball team never panicked Saturday night.

Instead, the Golden Hawks closed out the game on a 15-2 run and completed a storybook comeback in a 57-55 win over Farrington in a quarterfinal game of the OIA Division I Girls Basketball Tournament.

Ciera O'Brien's running banker from 12 feet beat the buzzer and sent the mostly pro-Nanakuli crowd into a frenzy.

"That was amazing," said her teammate, Tianna Hanohano. "We trust in her. We know what she can do and that's what she did. She put it up for us."

It wasn't the first time the Golden Hawks had to rally to pull out a nail-biter this season. They edged past Radford, 38-36, back on Jan. 16 after outscoring the Rams int he fourth quarter, 18-13.

"This whole season we've been in those types of situations and we're to the point where we know how to handle it and stay calm, know what we have to do and get it done," said Hanohano, who finished with 16 points, second only to O'Brien's 24 for Nanakuli.

O'Brien said it was a matter of staying patient and trusting in themselves.

"Every fourth quarter our shot seems to fall," O'Brien said. "It happens every game."

A key factor in the Golden Hawks' comeback was the play of forward Jade Marfil, who grabbed seven of her team-high 12 rebounds in the final period.

"Jade has problems against bigger bigs," Nanakuli coach Randy Kauhane said of Marfil, who finished with eight points. "She is a little bit gun shy, but we've just got to get into her head and let her know that she can bang with them and when she did once, she was attacking after. She was a big key element in our press and stayed out of foul trouble, so that was a good thing."

Both teams dealt with players in foul trouble. Farrington's Molimau Heimuli, who tied for a team high with 12 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, picked up three fouls in the first half before ultimately fouling out with 1:11 remaining. Nanakuli saw O'Brien and forward Raynette Meyers-Kahalehoe called for three first-half fouls and Hanohano also was whistled for four fouls.

"I think our team is smart enough to deal with that. We're really disciplined," O'Brien said.

Hanohano chimed in: "When one is down somebody just has to step up and keep playing our game."

The Golden Hawks' reward is a ticket to the state tournament and a showdown against fourth-ranked Roosevelt in a semifinal game Tuesday.

"It's what we shot for," Kauhane said. "We said from last year we want to be in the states and I think the team can compete, we've just got to keep working on small stuff."