Mid-Pacific senior guard Harley Simon tries to get by Damien's Ethel Suniga in a Division II state tournament quarterfinal game. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Mid-Pacific second-year coach Sherice Ajifu and Ciera Kameehonua, the D2 tournament's most outstanding player, help raise up the team's first-ever state championship trophy. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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The Mid-Pacific girls basketball team's first year under coach Sherice Ajifu was far from a disappointment.

After moving down from Division I, the Owls advanced all the way to the Division II semifinals in 2016 before falling to perennial contender KS-Hawaii, 43-35, at Hawaii Island.

For a team that had forfeited three league games in the previous season, Mid-Pacific was finally on the right track towards success.

However, unlike most programs heading into year two under the same regime, the Owls reinvented themselves.

Conventional wisdom would be to stick with what worked in year one and take solace in the fact that one year of experience in the same system will pay dividends in the following season.

But the personnel on the Owls this time around was different. Mid-Pacific graduated five seniors and didn't have the height that it did in the 2015-16 season. With an average height of 5 feet and 4 1/2 inches, the old style of play wasn't going to work anymore.

If the Owls were going to improve from a year ago and possibly win a championship, they were going to have to run.

And run some more.

Mid-Pacific utilized an up-tempo style of play in Ajifu's second year leading the program to great success as it play to captured the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II title and dominated the Division II state tournament to win the school's first-ever state championship.

The Owls' run-and-gun system and air-tight full court press also helped avenge their only losses from a year ago as they defeated defending state champion Hawaii Baptist, 58-44, during the regular season and KS-Hawaii, 63-38, in the state title game last Saturday at the Neal Blaisdell Center.

Harley Simon, the championship team's lone senior, said that the team knew early on that they would have to do a lot of running.

"Coach Sherice said since we don't have height, we're going to have to owe it a lot to speed and that's something that we really capitalize on in practice."

In fact, most of the Owls' practice time involved conditioning drills to prepare them for this style of play. Two of the drills that Mid-Pacific did were called 33s — which had the players run from baseline to baseline at Mills Gymnasium three times in 33 seconds — and sweet 16s, where the girls had to go back-and-forth from sideline to sideline 16 times in a minute and 50 seconds. 

Simon admitted that it wasn't all fun and games during practice.

"Of course the running wasn't my favorite because I always thought this was kind of like a waste of practice, but I like to trust that my coaches have a plan and that was something that I had to do a lot of," she said after the team's regular season finale against Saint Francis.

Simon and the rest of the team continued to trust the process, working extensively to condition themselves to be more quicker and have more stamina than their opponents — and it showed in their margin of victory against league opponents.

The Owls won their first three regular season games in December by an average of 14 points, which included a road win over defending state champion Hawaii Baptist. Mid-Pacific's victories after that three-game stretch were even more convincing, winning by an average of 38.5 points per game to compile a 10-0 league record.

There was just one more opponent that was standing in the Owls' way of an undefeated regular season and the league title — Saint Francis.

Facing Goliath
The need to be a team that predicated itself on going full throttle throughout an entire game couldn't be more evident when you compare the rosters between the Saints and Mid-Pacific.

Saint Francis' starting lineup consisted of 6-foot senior Olivia Veatangitau, 5-foot-10 Mission Ribeiro and 5-foot-8 Skye Ah Yat, and could bring 6-foot-1 Mata Sagapulutele off the bench while the tallest girl for the Owls was 5-foot-8 freshman Paige Fahrni.

If the Owls were going to counteract the size disadvantage, they would have to prevent the Saints from getting the ball into the post, or even better yet, getting past half court.

Mid-Pacific's full court press and half court traps produced great results against Saint Francis — totaling 15 steals and forcing 26 turnover — to help the Owls rally from a 20-17 halftime deficit for a 43-37 win on Jan. 16.

"We're a run-and-gun team and we knew we needed to keep the pressure on for 32 minutes against a team like Saint Francis," coach Ajifu said after the six-point victory. "That was the mismatch that we felt we had against them."

A home crowd of about 650 fans also played a role in the Owls' ILH Division II title clinching win.

"The crowd was amazing, I was actually not expecting that many people," said Simon. "Mid-Pacific has given me so much to love about this school, and the crowd was extremely helpful, especially when we were down. Our heads were hanging at some points in the game, but we just had to trust the process."

The final gauntlet
Winning the ILH Division II title guaranteed the Owls a first round bye the Snapple/HHSAA Division II state tournament, which meant Mid-Pacific's next game wouldn't be till Feb. 2.

To get ready for the postseason, the Mid-Pacific coaching staff spent 11 practices over 16 days preparing the team for different looks that they might see in the state tourney.

"We brought in a scout team, we brought in a bunch of alumni to give them a good rub," said Ajifu. "We tried to throw everything that they would see in the state tournament and they responded well."

And respond they did.

Mid-Pacific opened up state tournament play with a 82-30 win over Damien in the quarterfinals. The Owls followed that up with a 62-34 semifinal win over Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II champion Kalani and their 25-point victory over KS-Hawaii.

Even though Mid-Pacific was able to build a convincing 24-6 lead over the Warriors after the first quarter, slowing down was never part of the game plan as it went on to outscore KS-Hawaii in every period for a dominating win.

"Our coaches just emphasized playing our game," said Simon. "Just keep playing how we were playing in the state tournament and this whole season.

"We knew that this was the state title game so there was a lot of energy in the air and we had to be really careful about being too complacent and we just had to keep moving."

Ajifu added that her team's performance in the state tournament was a "pleasant surprise.

"We seen a lot of fire in their eyes that we didn't see throughout the regular season. They came to play and we knew that they were ready, well prepared going over our scouting report every day, having a complete focus and the girls stepped out on the court and executed to near perfection."

She was also pleased that her players could see their hard work pay off.

"We put them through some grueling drills and this is what it was for, so that they can play 32 minutes three to four days in a row, and see the other team a little bit tired on the sideline and knowing that we can still go. We could still run and get high percentage baskets."

Simon, who also celebrated her birthday on the same day the Owls won their first-ever state title, summed up what everyone on the team was feeling perfectly.

"To see everything that we put in from all the way from summer of last year is such an amazing feeling."