Kamehameha holds off Iolani to continue undefeated run through ILH

Greg Yamamoto | SL

Kamehameha continued its undefeated march through the ILH Division I regular season, holding off a relentless Iolani squad, 61-55.

Nihoa Dunn had 22 points to lead all scorers, her highest output of the regular season as well as most scored in the regular season game in her career. Nearly half of her point total came from the free throw line, where she knocked down 10 of 11 attempts, also a career best.

"It's important to hit free throws," said Dunn of her success at the line tonight. "Sometimes, games come down to the wire and you gotta be able to knock those down to be able to win. We practice free throws a lot, so yeah."

For good measure, she also added seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal, all good for the team lead or tied for it.

Those heroics were equalled by that of the play of Jusitce Kekauoha, who scored 20 points of her own, including five points in the span of less than 10 seconds of game clock that brought the Raiders to within two points at the 6:07 mark of the fourth.

Iolani clawed back to a 53-51 difference on a Hailey Fernandez basket with 2:53 to go, but Dunn's final points of the evening on a low block offensive rebound and putback pushed the lead back to four, and free throws down the stretch helped keep the Raiders just out of reach at the final buzzer.

Kamehemeha led by nine points after each of the first three quarters of play, and the home crowd saw Iolani get oh-so-close to pulling even in stretches in each quarter, only to see the Warriors pull ahead with timely baskets as well as stops on defense.

Dunn's play on the inside was bolstered by six three pointers made by six diferent Warriors, and every player that checked into the contest for Kamehameha got on the scoreboard. After Dunn's total, it was the two Rylees, Paranada and Cabuyado-Caswell who added nine each and Mackenzie Alapai added six more.

"One of things that really stands out about my team is that we have really great ball movement, we share the ball and we don't look for good shots, we look for greater shots," said Dunn. "We weren't hitting as much tonight as we usually do (from the outside), but we were able to get the boards, and we were able to be smart with the ball, secure the ball and move it again."

Iolani registered more assists (11 to 9) and steals (5 to 3), but a 27-16 rebounding advantage for Kamehameha was definitely noteworthy. Two other Raiders hit double figures, Mia Frye and Hailey Fernandez, with 10 each.

One game remains for the Warriors to cap a perfect run through its regular season campaign, a road game against Punahou Thursday. The Buffanblu picked up its first win this evening with a 65-51 win over the Spartans.

"We're just focusing on one game at a time," said Dunn, when asked about the possibility of a undefeated run through the ILH. "We're not focusing on our record or that we got the state berth already, we just focus on each and every game."