On Super Bowl eve, the OIA Red Division championship game between Pearl City and Kaimuki turned out to be a super, overtime, defensive thriller.

In their third meeting, Pearl City(13-2) prevailed 31-27 to capture the school's first OIA girls basketball championship and earn a first-round bye in next week's state tournament.

Last night's game at Farrington was almost a carbon copy of their first meeting won by Pearl City, 32-29 with the Chargers stingy match-up zone defense keeping the Bulldogs away from the basket. Kaimuki (16-2) had forced the third game in the double elimination tournament with a 60-47 last Thursday, led by Ashley Savusa's 27 points.

"We broke down the tapes of that game for hours. We got no sleep." said Pearl City coach Mike Morton. "We used our match-up zone to keep them from getting layups on the inside".

Savusa could manage only 7 points last night and Kaimuki shot only 27.5% (11 of 40) compared to 70% in their win two nights earlier. Kaimuki made only 2 of 8 free throws.

With the score tied at 23 after regulation time, Pearl City's Tiari Walker converted a rebound 24 seconds into the 4-minute overtime and the Chargers never trailed again. "The coaches told me to keep crashing the boards", said Walker who led all scorers with 11 points. Pearl City had a 5-1 rebound edge in the extra period.

Dejah Fa'asoa's second three-pointer of the night put Kaimuki within one at 27-26 with 1:25 left, but with Pearl City guards, Sabrina Angle, Adrienne Jean Sylva, and Shawna Angle moving the ball around the perimeter and forcing Kaimuki to foul, the Chargers made 4 of 6 free throws to ice the game.

Said Pearl City's Dani Magana, who was down on the floor for several minutes in the third quarter, but returned to the game, "On a rebound, my knee popped and hurt for a split second. Tonight we played our game not theirs."

In regulation time of the tight defensive game, there were five ties and six lead changes. Pearl City's biggest lead was four points, 15-11, early in the third quarter. Kaimuki's biggest lead was three points, 20-17 late in the third quarter.

After Pearl City missed a pair of bonus free throw chances, Kaimuki called time out with 1:25 left in the fourth quarter and the score 23-23. The Bulldogs held the ball the ball for over a minute and the Chargers did not come out to challenge. "We let them shoot, they had been missing all night" said Morton. The strategy paid off when
Kaimuki finally tried a shot and missed with 8 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

"It was a hard battle. We didn't crash the boards enough. But no excuses." said Kaimuki coach Mona Fa'asoa, whose team had to play two more games than Pearl City to reach last night's title match.