The first Hawaiian Electric/ScoringLive Girls Basketball Power Rankings are slated to be released Monday and this much is for sure: Konawaena is No. 1.

Just how good are the defending Division I state champs? In my mind, it's them and everyone else at this point.

Konawaena ran its record to 9-0 following Saturday night's 60-52 win over Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) in the championship game of the eight-team Iolani Girls Prep Classic.

The Wildcats never trailed in the game. They led by as many as 16 points late in the first quarter and held a 25-11 lead to start the second. The Dragons never got closer than six points the rest of the way.

The hot start buoyed Konawaena's offensive struggles in the second quarter — when it had some difficulty with Bishop O'Dowd's trapping defense and was outscored, 20-14.

"We just had to stay with our momentum," said senior forward Ihi Victor, who had 13 points and was named to the all-tournament team. "We had to make a statement from the beginning, so I feel we did that."

Two-time All-Hawaii Player of the Year Chanelle Molina scored 13 of her team-high 22 points in the first quarter, when the Wildcats scored on all but four of their possessions.

"We're a momentum team," said Molina, who averaged 24.7 points in three games over the weekend and was named tournament MVP. "We've got to grab that momentum during the beginning of the game to keep us going throughout the game. That's pretty much it, just get our momentum going."

Despite a roster of just eight players, Konawaena managed to stay out of foul trouble. It was called for just 13 fouls in the game. It was not called for a foul in the second half until the 5:26 mark in the fourth quarter.

"We're improving with every game, we're adjusting every game," said the Washington State-bound Molina. "Some games we don't box out well, other games we don't attack the basket well, so it's all about finding our rhythm and playing a complete game. We've never had a perfect game yet, so we've just got to keep working on it, but we've improved well since the beginning of the season."

The Wildcats shot a blistering 50 percent from the field in the game and committed just seven turnovers against 14 steals.

"There's still plenty to learn," Konawaena coach Bobbie Awa said. "We had plenty mistakes at the end, so it was good. Those were good teams that we played and we get to watch ourselves and learn from our mistakes."

Konawaena will make its third road trip of the season later this month when it visits Washington, D.C. to take part in the prestigious Title IX Tournament, Dec. 27-30.