No. 4 Raiders rally to beat No. 5 Sabers to advance to semifinals


Courtesy Iolani School

SALT LAKE - No. 3 Iolani wasn't quite ready to call it a season.

Junior guard Justice Kekauoha scored a game-high 16 points, but her defense (three steals, eight defensive rebounds) was key in the Raiders' 11-2 run in the fourth quarter to rally the Raiders by third-seeded and No. 5 Campbell, 37-31, at Moanalua. The Raiders (14-9), who lost five in a row in the second half of the ILH season, advance to Thursday's semifinals of the Division I state girls basketball tournament against second-seeded and No. 2 Konawaena, a 41-29 winner against Moanalua in the other quarterfinal. Tip-off is 5 p.m. at McKinley.

"We worked so hard in practices and we want to go further on," Kekauoha said. "And I think we had that toughness, that mental toughness to push through at the end."

The Sabers (19-6) saw their 14-game win streak snapped after taking a 28–22 lead into the fourth quarter. Campbell made it 29-22 when Cayden Parado made one of two free throws with 6:40 left in the game. Although the Sabers got two offensive rebounds from the missed free throw, they failed to score, and Iolani began its run against the tiring Sabers. Kekauoha got two defensive rebounds and a steal to engineer the Raiders' rally. Campbell will play Moanalua in a fifth-place semifinal, 6:30 p.m. at Moanalua.

‘(We) just continued to put pressure on them," Iolani coach Dean Young said. "We saw them (the Sabers) kind of get fatigued - their shots weren't looking so good anymore…We just tried to dial up the pressure with a three-quarter court press and try to push transition harder.

"I think we just wore them down, pushing the transition… That was the key for us, just putting the pressure on them."

The Sabers shot a dismal 12 of 52 from the field, including 1 for 17 from 3-point range. Campbell out-rebounded Iolani, 42-29, but could not convert on second-chance shots that kept  Iolani in the game.

Campbell capitalized on the Raiders' early foul woes. Iolani's 6-foot-4 freshman Charlotte Galloway started, but hardly played in the first half after two first-quarter fouls and drew her third early in the third. Although the Raiders scored the first four points to start the second half, the Sabers used a 10-0 run to pull away at 28-19 with 1:14 left in the third. Kekauoha scored off one of her three steals before the quarter ended to pull to 28-22 after three periods.

"Charlotte's a big element to our game, because we focus on that a lot," Kekauoha said of playing without the tallest player on the court. "And to have her out, other people had to step up."

Hailey Fernandez chipped in eight rebounds and three steals for Iolani.

Galloway scored all of her four points in the back half of the fourth quarter.

Parado led Campbell with nine points, scoring her team's only 3.

Iolani advances to its 23rd semifinal appearance. It is 14-8 in the semis. Final four regular Konawaena is 15-4 in the semifinals.

The tournament is sponsored by Pacific Century Fund Team Aloha.



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].