Iolani's Camy Aguinaldo and Sierra Buscher defend Kamehameha's Shelbey Cadinha-Oku. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 1 of 2

Kamehameha's Alohi Robins-Hardy heads to the basket against Iolani. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 2 of 2

Sat, Jan 4, 2014 @ Iolani

---

Kamehameha

57

Iolani

54

Final	1	2	3	4
Kamehameha (8-4, 14-5)	18	8	14	17	57
Iolani (5-7, 12-10)	14	15	16	9	54

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

C. Aguinaldo 17 pts  3 3pm  0/3 FTs

A. Robins-Hardy 26 pts  2 3pm  4/5 FTs

J. Botelho 4 tot

A. Robins-Hardy 12 tot

B. Maeda 2 ast

S. Aleki 2 ast

HONOLULU – When her teammates needed her the most, she came through.

Alohi Robins-Hardy scored a game-high 26 points – ten in the fourth quarter – to power the third-ranked Kamehameha Warriors over host Iolani Saturday night, 57-54. The Brigham Young University commit shot the ball very well, converting 10 of her 12 shot attempts for an 83 percent clip. To top it all off, the 6-foot-2 senior added 12 rebounds and three steals for a double-double performance.

“She played a great game,” said Kamehameha assistant coach Edgar Palafox. “As a captain, (she showed) good leadership. She took charge when she needed to. That’s just a great senior (for our team).”

Kamehameha improves their record to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu. Iolani drops to 9-5 overall and 2-2 in league play.

Iolani took a 45-40 lead into the fourth quarter, but was outscored by eight in the final period.  Kamehameha turned up their defensive intensity in the quarter, holding Iolani to just nine fourth quarter points.

“We had a lot of heart. (We) just played defense (down the stretch),” Robins-Hardy said on their comeback victory. “Our whole team, we just came together and pulled out a win.”

Iolani’s Brooke Maeda split a pair at the free throw line to give the Raiders a two-point lead with 49.9 seconds remaining in regulation. Kamehameha missed their next two shots on the following possession, forcing the Warriors to foul. Fortunately for the Warriors, Iolani’s Camy Aguinaldo missed the free throw one a one-and-one situation giving Kamehameha the ball with 33.4 seconds remaining on the clock.

Kamehameha’s chance at a comeback almost took a turn when Iolani’s Sierra Buscher got her hand on a pass, but the ball was deflected out of bounds retaining possesion for Kamehameha with 25.9 left in regulation.  Robins-Hardy received the inbounds pass and hit a step-back 3-pointer in the grill of Iolani’s Jade Botelho, putting the Warriors up 55-54 with 20 seconds left on the clock.

“I was just thinking we needed a score on this possession,” Robins-Hardy said on her go-ahead 3-pointer. “I guess that last 3-pointer, I don’t know, it just came (to me).”

The Raiders were able to maintain the lead for majority of the game due to Kamehameha’s inability to take care off the ball, committing 20 turnovers in the first three quarters. Like their defense, the Warriors tightened things up in the fourth, only committing one in the final period.

“We (started) coming to the ball,” Palafox said on fixing their turnover issues. “Before we just made long passes, nobody came back to the ball. Shorter, quicker passes were the key.”

Kamehameha’s size really helped them dominate the boards, allowing the Warriors to win the rebounding battle 35-13. To counteract this, the Raiders lit it up from 3-point land, converting 45 percent of their shot attempts behind the arc. In spite of the 3-point barrage, Kamehameha was able to get their offense going as the game progressed. The Warriors finished the game completing 56.4 percent of their shot attempts.

“We weren’t patient (initially),” Palafox said. “We were taking bad shots and playing terrible defense; Iolani was shooting 3-pointers left and right. We just had to be focused and be patient.”

Kamehameha jumped out to the early lead thanks to Robins-Hardy’s perfect first quarter. She was 5-for-5 from the field giving her 12 first quarter points, and nailed a corner triple to put Kamehameha up 18-11. Buscher answer back with a 3-pointer of her own, cutting the Warrior lead to four heading into the second quarter. 

The second quarter wouldn’t be as kind to Robins-Hardy and the Warriors. Kamehameha committed eight turnovers – the most in any quarter – and Robins-Hardy was held scoreless, allowing Iolani win the period 15-8. Maeda led the Raider’s second quarter surge, scoring six of her seven points in the period. Iolani took a 29-26 lead into the break.

Kamehameha threatened to retake the lead from the Raiders in the third quarter, but couldn’t come up with enough stops to go up on the scoreboard. Kamehameha cut it to one on a Miki’ala Maio jumper, before Botelho took over for Iolani. After missing her first four shot attempts, Botelho scored the last six points for the Raiders in the third quarter, giving the home team a five-point advantage heading into the fourth.

The five-point differential to start the fourth quarter was not enough to contain the Warriors comeback, as Kamehameha overcame 20 turnovers in the first three quarters to come away with the road win.

“It was a good team effort. We didn’t play good, we played ugly in fact,” Palafox said after the game. “We just did enough to win and sometimes you got to do that.”

In addition to Robins-Hardy’s big game, Kamehameha also received a huge contribution from Shantel “Makana” Aleki.  The 5-foot-9 junior did a little bit of everything on the court, scoring six points while pulling down seven rebounds and dishing seven assists.

Leading the way for the Raiders was freshman Camy Aguinaldo, who scored a team-high 17 points with three 3-pointers made.

Iolani will go on the road next Wednesday, playing Maryknoll in a 5:00 p.m. game. Kamehameha returns home to take on Punahou on the same date.

“Credit to our girls, we all came together, played together just like we needed to play our game. We still have a lot to work on, but there’s more games and more practices,” said Robins-Hardy.