Kalani spoils Moanalua senior night, clinches OIA East top seed

Greg Yamamoto | SL

Led by a pair of Bakers, an undefeated run through the regular season was the icing on the cake for eighth ranked Kalani, as it clinched the top seed in the OIA D1 East with a 49-46 win over number nine Moanalua.

Na Menehune (8-2, 9-5) were looking for an upset at home against the Falcons (10-0, 14-6) on their senior night, but Ultimately fell short after a late 7-2 run by Kalani in the last two minutes of the game sealed the deal.

This marks the third season in a row that Moanalua has finished second in the OIA D1 East. However, for Kalani, this is a turnaround after finishing fifth out of seven teams last season.

"I think our team was always viewed as the underdog and that our school couldn't be good, but I think this year we have come out and we have pushed," said Isabelle Baker, a senior forward for the Falcons. "We wanted to show that even though we are from Kalani, we can win because our small school is not so small anymore."

The game started off with Falcons' freshman guard Kaliyah Kapahua-Kahele raining down three threes in the first quarter. However, the momentum was short-lived as Moanalua went on an 11-2 run to close out the first quarter. This gave Na Menehune the advantage at the end of the first with a score of 14-11.

Both teams began to settle into the game in the second quarter, with shots being traded back and forth. The defenses began to make their presence known, with turnovers taking control of the game. Moanalua was able to maintain its lead heading into the half with a score of 26-21.

Moanalua was able to find success in the first half by driving into the paint and making layups, which Kalani head coach Tyler Tsukazaki made clear to his team at halftime.

"We were overplaying too much on everything, the guards were getting into the paint and breaking our defense down," Tsukazaki said. "So once we stopped that, and we held them to one shot, and we were boxing out everybody. That's what really turned it around in the second half."

Straight out of the locker room to start the third quarter, both teams came out shooting, but Kalani kept it up the entire quarter, leading to several unanswered points. The Falcons were able to finish the third with 18 points compared to Na Menehune's seven. This gave them their first lead since the first quarter, with the score being 39-33 heading into the fourth. The second best scorer in the league, Jordin Baker, another freshman on the Falcons' squad, began to prove why she is a top player as she scored the majority of the Falcons points in the third.

"When I started scoring more, I knew that we could win like we actually had it in the bag," Jordin Baker said. "We've been prepping for this for so long, and just going out there and playing our hardest was what everybody wanted."

The fourth quarter began with Moanalua stopping Kalani's momentum and scoring several unanswered points. Led by Serenity Tacgere with five consecutive points, Moanalua regained the lead halfway through the fourth quarter. However, Baker struck right back for Kalani with six points to retake control of the game. Down by one possession with under a minute left, Na Menehune had two chances to draw up a play and tie the game, but missed both chances. Leading to the three-point win for the Falcons.

Kalani was able to come away with the win despite losing in the turnover and foul margin. The Falcons had 14 turnovers and committed 15 fouls compared to Moanalua's 9 turnovers and 12 fouls. Jordin Baker led Kalani with 24 points in the game, while Moanalua were led by Alofa Simanu and Tacgere with 12 points each.

"The more times we get in these close games, we learn how to finish them out," Tsukazaki said. "Every time you play in the playoffs, and hopefully in the states, it's going to be tough. The good thing is we have a long time to practice before."

Kalani and Moanalua will both be back in action in the upcomping league playoffs.