Kalani grounds Radford to make first semifinal appearance since 2018

Kinue Miller I ScoringLive

For the first time in five seasons, its on to the OIA D1 semifinals for the Falcons.

East top-seed Kalani rolled to a 47-27 win over Radford in the league quarterfinals, also locking up a state tournament berth in the process, the first since 2019.

"We're all happy we got this far, and we're just going to keep doing what we're doing," said post Angel Stevenson, who posted a double-double on the evening with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

The Falcons were runners up to Kahuku in the league final back in 2018, and qualified last for the state postseason in 2019 as the fifth seed.

Kalani opened the game on a 14-2 scoring run before Radford eventually settled in the back half of the period to cut the lead to just five as the first quarter winded down, but a buzzer beating triple by Stevenson pushed that margin up to eight.

"We wanted to get the ball at the top to Jordin (Baker), but they were denying her and I had an open shot so I took it," said Stevenson of the make, her first of the season.

The home team continued to build on that margin steadily through the half, where it led 27-12, and eventually extended that lead far enough to eventually clear its bench in the closing minutes.

Amd while the offensive prowess of the Falcons, particularly that of Jordin Baker, has been the storyline for much of this season, defense was clearly the focus against the Rams.

"Our main focus was to shut down Stroman because she's like the best player (on the their team) and she's a really good shooter," said Stevenson. "And then (Coryn) Doss as well, because she's really strong in the paint"

To that end, Kalani held the duo to 8 of 19 from the field, though the combo did account for 18 of the Rams' 27 points.

Compounding matters for Radford was its struggles from the free throw line, where it made just 5 of 22 attempts as a team.

The Rams can still qualify for the Division I field in states with a win over Kailua on Monday, Jan 26, as the the OIA sends six schools to the 12 team tournament set for the week of Feb 2-6.