Defending state champion Konawaena scored the game's first 8 points and barely worked up a sweat in cruising to a 62-42 victory over Kaiser in the quarterfinals of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I tournament last night at McKinley.

The BIIF champion Wildcats, who advanced to a 7 p.m semifinal match against the OIA's 5th place team, Kahuku at the Blaisdell Center, expanded an 8 point (15-7) lead at the end of the first quarter to 20 (35-15) at the half. Both teams subbed freely in the second half and battled on even terms.

Poised and efficient on offense and defense, Konawaena committed only 1 turnover compared to 12 for Kaiser in the first half and made twice as many field goals (14-7) including three 3-pointers.

"We did OK", said Konawaena coach Bobbie Awa, in a modest assessment. "Kaiser is a good team.  Players on both teams are good friends. We try to limit our turnovers to less than 10"

Konawaena's all-stater Lia Galdeira showed a variety of dazzling moves and led her team in scoring with 18 points. Courtney Kaupa added 13, and Makani Wall had 11, including three 3-pointers. The Wildcats made 27 of 60 (45%) field goal attempts.

Said Kaiser coach Simon Bitanga, "Our plan was to stop their two best players, but they have nine good players. That is whey they are the #1 team in the state. They had a lot of plusses and we had a lot of minuses."

One big plus for Kaiser was 4 foot 11 Kellie Sakai, who came off the bench to score  a team-high 15 points, including  3 baskets in the second half, after stealing the ball.

"Their ball handlers and shooters are really good," said Sakai. "We did our best, but just fell short."

To defeat Konawaena, an opponent is going to have to do better than their best.