Greg Yamamoto | SL

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KAKAAKO — A first league title is coming to Second City. 

Leila Paraoan and Liliyanah-Tiare Tamale each recorded a double-double to lift Kapolei to a 55-29 win over Castle in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II girls basketball championship game at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium Wednesday night. 

Paraoan scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Tavale tallied 19 points with 11 steals for the Hurricanes (7-4).

"Honestly, we knew going into this that we could do it but we had to all play together and for each other to be able to really do it," said Paraoan, a senior forward. 

Paraoan shot 9 of 14 from the field and also recorded two assists and two steals, while Tamale made three of her team's four 3-pointers and also chipped in five assists and four rebounds. Hiialo Kala-Reantaso contributed 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting, along with five rebounds, five assists and two steals. 

"It feels good," Kapolei coach Shane Lino said. "It feels awesome that we were able to finally bring it home after all of these years; We were able to get it, so it's special, no doubt about that."

The West top-seeded Hurricanes used an 11-0 run that included six points by Paraoan to negate an early 2-0 lead by the East top-seeded Knights (5-7). 

Paraoan's first bucket came off an assist from Tavale. She went coast to cast for a layup for her next basket and then converted a putback about 30 seconds later to give her team an early 6-2 lead. 

Lino shared that Paraoan was chomping at the bit to get the ‘Canes off to a quick start Wednesday night. 

"As a senior she knew that this was her last opportunity and she was ready. You could tell by the first six points she had that she was ready," Lino commented. 

The 11-0 run was capped by a Tamale 3-pointer from the left corner to make it an 11-2 advantage a little more than three minutes into the contest. 

Kapolei used a 9-2 run later in the first quarter to extend its lead to 20-7. It stretched its lead to 33-11 by halftime after it outscored Castle 13-2 in the second quarter. 

A steal and quick basket by Tamale with 2:20 left in the third quarter matched the Hurricanes' largest lead of the night at 45-15. 

Lino noted that Tavale was also poised to perform under the bright lights despite being just a sophomore. 

"She's done it all season long — I mean, not just her, but everybody — but she's done it all season long. She texted me today telling me that she's gonna do everything possible she can to make sure that we come away with this win," Lino said. 

Kapolei shot 22 of 54 from the field (40.7 percent) and dominated in points in the paint (32 to 26). It turned Castle over 30 times and recycled that into a 24-to-9 advantage in points off turnovers. 

"Our press was definitely the one that gave us all those steals and helped us put more points back up, so honestly just keeping the pressure hot the whole time was really what kept us going," Paraoan said. 

The Knights were limited to 11-of-36 shooting (30.6 percent) from the field, including an 0 for 8 mark from distance. 

Both teams shot 7 of 16 from the free-throw line. 

Dorian Pokipala led Castle with 15 points. No other Knight scored more than five points. 

The Hurricanes have won three of their last four games since a three-game losing streak toward the end of the regular season. The defeats at the hands of Division-I foes Mililani, Campbell and Radford proved beneficial come playoff time, Lino said. 

"For us that was big because it prepared us for this postseason run. We played all the D2 teams in the beginning and then all the D1 teams toward the end, so I told the players that if we could handle the D1 pressure and everything that comes with facing those D1 teams, when we play the D2 teams it should be a lot easier because they're not going to be at that same level defensively and everything like that and they showed up tonight and they held it together," Lino detailed. 

Paraoan echoed the sentiments of her coach.

"Honestly, it just made us think that we gotta come back harder. We already knew that it was gonna be tough games — especially that stretch — but the harder we work the better we got at fixing the little things and we really just put everything out here tonight," Paraoan said. 

Both teams, along with third-place finisher Kaiser, will represent the OIA in next week's Pacific Century Fund Team/HHSAA Division II State Championships.