OIA Girls Basketball
Kamakawiwoole, Falcons pull away from Cougars


  



Thu, Dec 27, 2018 @ Kalani


Final 1 2 3 4  
Kaiser (10-5, 16-12) 15 1392057
Kalani (12-2, 22-9) 13 16 26 2782
K. Kamakawiwoole 30 pts  4 3pm  4/6 FTs
T. Blakeney 20 pts  4/6 FTs

KAHALA — Kamalu Kamakawiwoole hit four of her team's nine 3-pointers and poured in a season-high 30 points to lead No. 10 Kalani to an 82-57 win over visiting Kaiser at Earl C. Holmer Gymnasium Thursday night.

The Falcons (6-1) moved a game ahead of the Cougars (5-2) in the Oahu Interscholastic Association's Division I East standings to assume sole possession of second place behind undefeated Kahuku (6-0).

In her first game since being held to a season-low eight points in a 28-point loss to Incarnate Word (St. Louis) two weeks prior, Kamakawiwoole posted her best offensive performance of the year.

Kalani coach Chi Mok said the 6-foot senior forward is fully recovered from a fracture nose she suffered earlier this season that forced her to miss the Falcons last four games — including a 51-48 loss to the Red Raiders on Dec. 18.

"She's recovered and she's good to go," Mok said. "A couple of times in practice she got grazed and she knows she's OK, so it took a couple of those hits for her to realize she was OK."

Kaiser played without senior forwards Stephanie Cannon and Maiya Cadinha. All seven players suited up saw significant court time for the Cougars, who saw their three-game regular-season win streak come to an end.

However, the Cougars made up for its short bench with some hot shooting in the first half. They hit three of their four triples before the intermission — one apiece by Macy Hill, Trinidee Kahunahana and Jodie Otani.

Kalani's Kandyce Woods was a force in the paint for the Falcons in the second half.

Woods said it was ball movement that opened up the paint for her after halftime.

"We really needed to work on getting rebounds and boxing out and opening up that short corner, because in the first half we weren't looking at short corner, and once we started hitting that short corner coming out that dive — because I'm always up top, right — that dive was wide open and so that really got me there and he just kept telling me ‘get boards, keep crashing, just go hard,' " Woods said.

Mok said he was happy for Woods, who has seen her playing time cut back with the Falcons mostly utilizing a run-and-gun, guard-oriented offense this season.

"Every game I tell her to be ready. Because of the depth that we have, we can make adjustments to our game — whether it's gonna be, you know, if they have all guards then we can go all guards and make the other team try to keep up with us, or if they have a big in there that we're kind of having maybe a little trouble with, we can insert our big game — so for Kandyce, I'm happy for her every time she comes out and plays well. She gives us a little spark off the bench every single time and she's understanding her role, which I appreciate, because I told her that's not an easy thing to do, but she took it, she ran with it, she's really okay with that," Mok said.

Woods, who was coming off a 10-point performance in a 52-pound rout of Kailua Saturday, was glad to come through when her number was called.

"It feels great because normally I don't really standout, so this is a great opportunity," Woods said. "Knowing that I could do well and finish for my team it's amazing, because I would do anything for my team and I know they would do anything for me."

Heidi Kishaba's 3-pointers from the right wing off an assist from Kalena Halunajan made it a 41-34 Kalani lead with 4:49 left in the third and ignited a 13-0 run.

Kalani's Kalena Halunajan scores off of a turnover just before the end of the third quarter.

Halunajan, a freshman point guard, finished with 13 points.

Blakeney, a junior forward, netted 16 points after halftime — 12 of them in the fourth quarter — and finished with a season-high 20. Kahunahana added 13 points in the loss.

The Falcons outscored the Cougars 53-29 after halftime, including 26-9 in the third quarter.

Kaiser turned it over 11 times in the third period alone and 25 times in all.

Kalani shot 13 for 18 from the free-throw line, including 11 of 12 after halftime, while Kaiser made just 9 of 19 from the line. 

Mok is hopeful the win will help his team regain some of the momentum it lost with the Kahuku defeat heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.

"It was a good win for us. We're looking forward to the rest of the season, but it's a really good rebound from the Kahuku loss," Mok said. "I don't think these girls are going to expect an easy game here on out, so they gotta understand that we gotta play hard, we gotta play hard 32 minutes and not start off slow, because we had a really slow start again today."

Both teams continue league play Saturday night. Kalani will visit Roosevelt (5-2) while Kaiser will host No. 9 Kahuku.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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