The first day of the 2015 Iolani Girls Prep Classic is in the books and I got a chance to catch all four games Thursday.

Here are some notes I jotted down during each quarterfinal.

Konawaena 75, Mililani 22
This one was all Wildcats all the way. They held leads of 23-3 after one quarter, 36-14 after two and 62-16 after three. Two-time All-Hawaii Division I Player of the Year Chanelle Molina did not disappoint. In fact, every time I get the opportunity to watch her play I come away further amazed by her wide array of skills. Molina is a great finisher at the bucket, but her anticipation — whether its throwing a pass on offense, reading a passing lane on defense or position herself for a rebound — is tremendous. She is always hustling regardless of the score, yet always in control and operates with surgeon-like precision. Watch the way Molina sets screens and creates space coming off screens; everything is an exact science.
Wildcats: Everyone can shoot the ball. Ihi Victor, a stalwart in the post, even hit one of Kona's nine 3-pointers Thursday. Watching this team play defense is a thing of beauty.
Trojans: With starting center Shantel Appleby (injury) out, Mililani's lack of size was apparent. Junior Hope Carter provided a nice offensive boost off the bench. Leilehua transfer Jazmina Lafitaga will be looked to help score points. The Trojans were victim to many self-inflicted mental errors and have lots of room to grow.

South Medford (Ore.) 44, Punahou 41
The Lady Panthers had to rally past the pesky Buffanblu. South Medford trailed after each quarter and faced a six-point deficit entering the fourth quarter, but outscored Punahou 12-3 in the final period. Lauren Orndoff, a 5-foot-11 guard had 12 points and UH-commit Juli Tago added 11 in the win. Punahou's twin towers — Vae Malufau and Tyra Moe — had 12 points apiece and Elle Uyeda added nine in a losing effort. South Medford suited up just eight players, but only the starting five scored points. The reigning Oregon class 6A state champions never appeared to panic despite trailing for almost the entire game.
Lady Panthers: Tago struggled to find her shot in the first half, but found a rhythm after the intermission. The two-time all-state player and McDonald's All-American nominee stayed within the offense, however, and never forced shots. This is a team that loves to get up and down the court in a hurry and runs the fast break well, but can execute the half-court game — as evidenced by fourth quarter.
Buffanblu: I think this team is still finding an identity under first-year coach Elizabeth Kam. Malufau and Moe are the best inside duo in the state offensively, but the problem for Punahou right now is getting them the ball. It struggled mightily executing adequate entry passes into the post and often settled for outside shots against South Medford's zone. A strong pick-and-roll game would do this team wonders. Guards Elle Uyeda and Kamaile Kandiah are streaky scorers that can slash to the basket.

Iolani 63, Radford 36
The Raiders are what you would typically expect: small, speedy and deadly accurate from 3-point range — at least, they were Thursday night when they hit 12 treys. Kellie Okamura was the lone Iolani player to score in double figures with 11 points, but 10 different players in all scored at least one point. Eight of them hit a 3-pointer, including two apiece by bigs Skylar Nakata and Sage Kaahaaina-Torres, who played in her first basketball game since the seventh grade. Aiea transfer Kyle Johnson had 14 points off the bench and Shaelie Burgess added 12 for Radford.
Raiders: Camy Aguinado may not always post 15 points a night, but the junior guard delivers in other ways. The 5-foot-2 Aguinaldo is quick with the ball and can create shots for other players with her dribble penetration. Ideally, coach Glenn Young would like to sub five for five every three minutes or so to make full use of their full-court press. Iolani plays tough man-to-man defense and got a number of deflections by sticking their hands into passing lanes. The Raiders move well without the ball and are very well-conditioned, but sometimes struggle to finish around the rim.
Rams: The lack of a solid ball handler was fairly obvious with the way they struggled with Iolani's defensive pressure. Johnson, a Second Team All-Hawaii Division II selection last year, seems to be still finding her niche and should work her way into the starting five sooner rather than later. Burgess, a 6-foot junior, provides a big body and a steady defender in the post, but could stand to get stronger as she struggled to shield defenders with her body and sometimes had difficulty receiving entry passes in the paint.

The nightcap — featuring Lahainaluna and Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) — was the main game I was there to cover, so you can read more about it in the game story, but here are extra quotes from head coaches Malik McCord of Bishop O'Dowd and Todd Rickard of Lahainaluna that didn't make it into my story. Bishop O'Dowd rallied to a 44-42 win over Lahainaluna.

Rickard
-Asked if Bishop O'Dowd changed things up defensively in the second half:
"I don't think so. All they did was do a 2-2-1 trap that we practice against every day. Our girls were out of rotation and when you really loo at it, it was like they saw that for the first time when we practice that every single day. When you're getting pressured from a good team and you have young players as well then things become different and when your young players get rattled that leads to turnovers and that's what happened tonight."

-On his team's hot start:
"I think we came out with a lot of energy, especially our seniors. They played with a lot of energy, but we've got to have our younger players make contributions and they cannot just contribute turnovers to this team. They've got to contribute defensively, offensively, so as long as we can get some kind of contribution from our underclassmen then we should be fine."

-Asked if he is close to finding a solid rotation:
"To tell you the truth, besides the three (Keleah Aiko Koloi, Cameron Fernandez and Fiamea Hafoka), I don't think we're ever going to find a true rotation because every girl plays differently every night, with the exception of those three girls. So to say that we're going to find a true rotation, I don't really think that I can say that because we are switching those two girls out numerous times to find that and sometimes they give us good results, sometimes they give us bad, so I think it's just an adjustment that we've got to make and I think the younger girls just have to be a little more confident."

-On reserve Susitina Namoa, who had seven of her eight points in the third quarter:
"She's a freshman, but we see her playing like that every day at practice, so I had to tell her, ‘Why aren't you doing the same thing in the first half? Why are you waiting until the second half? It's like you're a little bit timid out there, I know you're a freshman, but when you're on this court and you're playing varsity, I think the timidness has to go away and you've got to contribute something offensively and defensively.' "

McCord
-On his team's balance offensively:
"Yeah, it was great. That's the luxury with this team is you don't know who's going to step up in a night.

-Asked if he was surprised Lahainaluna continued to push the tempo:
"Yes, but we were prepared for it. I think that team struggled with any type of trapping and that's what they were going to get if they tried to stall. I think they probably though they could run their offense. We'll take it. Their big thing is going to (Koloi) as well, so if you stall you take her out of the game plan."

-On his team's slow start:
"Jetlag, maybe? I don't know. I told them at halftime that there's no excuses. You're tired, it's 10 o'clock, it doesn't matter. We came out here to play. We didn't come this far to play like that in the first half, so we're not going to make any excuses. I mean, (Lahainaluna) could be tired as well so we just had to show up and play and we didn't show up in the first half."