Iolani grinds out win over Konawaena to set up all-ILH D1 final

Greg Yamamoto | SL

The quest for six in still within reach.

Iolani survived a second straight down-to-the-wire contest, holding on to best Konawaena, 43-40, to reach the the title game of the Pacific Century Fund Team Aloha/HHSAA Division I Girls Basketball State Championships.

Justice Kekauoha scored a game-high 22 points, including 11 in the final period of play, and Mia Frye added 14 more to help will the Raiders into a position to hoist a sixth straight koa trophy.

There were seven lead changes in the contest, four in the final quarter alone. No team led by more than five points in the contest.

"We've faced a lot of adversity throughout the season and all the close games with Maryknoll and Kamehameha, I just feel it all brought us together and made us more gritty and we really want to win," said Frye.

Kekauoha and Frye's heroics aside, arguably the biggest shot of the game came courtesy of Kina Sake, who's putback of a Kekauoha miss helped put the Raiders back ahead, a lead they would not relinquish.

"I feel like typically Justice always looks for that drive, and I'm always there (in position to rebound) honestly," she laughed. "But I just got lucky that it bounced in the right spot at the right time."

"Our coaches always repeat, box out, crash the boards and tha'ts what Kina did, and I'm just so proud," said Kekauoha of the play.

A close game through three quarters saw Iolani start to pull away in the fourth, as a Frye layup pushed the margin to 29-24 with 5:52 to play, but Konawaena rallied behind the play of Aubrey Pak, who knocked down three huge threes in the fourth, including a dagger at the 1:32 mark that put the Wildcats ahead, 38-36.

Frye made 1 of 2 free throws to make the margin a single point, and Sake's putback gave the Raiders the lead with 1:09 in regulation.

Konawaena was forced to foul in order to try and extend the game, but Kekauoha knocked down all four of her attempts to make it a five point margin and ice the win.

Pak came off the bench to lead the Wildcats with 21 points. She hit 5 of 8 threes. Kaanoipua Leleiwi added nine points, four rebounds and four steals in the loss.

Sake's four points and a Hailey Fernandez three were the only points not scored by the duo of Kekauoha and Frye.

The Raiders will face off with top-seed and ILH rival Kamehameha, who they have fallen to in all three meetings this season.

"We just have to play like how we did the second half (against Konawaena)," said Kekauoha of the upcoming fourth meeting against the Warriors.

"Every single time we've played them we've gotten closer and closer and closer, so I just really think we a chance this time."