Kaimuki rolls Roosevelt to finish 11-0 in OIA East


Kaimuki's Dejah Fa'asoa drives to the basket against Roosevelt. Eugene Tanner | SL
Kaimuki celebrated senior night in a big way by defeating Roosevelt 51-37 in the OIA East regular season finale for both teams.

With five seniors in the starting lineup scoring all of their team's points, the host Bulldogs (11-0) trailed only briefly in the opening quarter and pulled away in the second half to win convincingly.

A pair of nine point scoring runs highlighted the Kaimuki win. Behind 6-2, the Bulldogs held Roosevelt (7-4) scoreless for over five minutes in the opening quarter to lead 11-6. During that stretch Roosevelt had five turnovers and missed their only three shots.

Up by six, 24-18 at the half, Kaimuki came out on fire in the second half, scoring the first nine points to lead 33-18. The outcome was never in doubt thereafter, with the Bulldogs leading by as many as 20 points, 48-28 with about three minutes left.

Ashley Savusa scored 9 of her team-high 15 points in the first half and Keana Paez had 10 of her 14 points in the second half to lead the balanced Bulldog scoring. Dejah Fa'asoa added 11 and Shantaeus Ramos-Dias had 9.

For Roosevelt, which had to play without regular Shana Kawakami, who was injured in their last game against Kaiser, Kira Arruda was the only player in double figures with 12. Often forced to shoot from long range by Kaimuki's stifling defense, the Rough Riders made only 13 of 43 field goal attempts.

Chelsea Wong, averaging over 10 points a game, was held to just one field goal and a total of 6 points.

"Their match-up zone defense is tough. They are seniors and they cover well" said Roosevelt coach Hinano Higa, who had only one senior in the starting lineup.

Kaimuki, which completed an undefeated regular season after three losses in the Iolani Classic, had already earned a first round bye for the the OIA playoffs. Roosevelt will be the number 4 seed after finishing ahead of Farrington (7-4) due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.