Alexis Huntimer and the Iolani Raiders host Sinalaulii Uluave and the Punahou Buffanblu Saturday afternoon. CJ Caraang | SL

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Although classes were not in session at Iolani last week, its girls basketball team took the opportunity to do some learning — both on and off the court — across the country in the nation's capital.

The Raiders traveled to Washington, D.C. to take part in the prestigious Title IX Classic, which included more than 70 teams from 24 states and Canada. While they went 0-3 in the Pat Summit bracket, but relished the opportunity to play top-notch competition.

"The level of competition we played was really high," Iolani coach Dean Young said. "First we started with the No. 9 team in the nation (National Christian Academy, of Maryland) and then we played the Ohio state champ (Pickerington Central) and the Maryland state champion (Frederick), so it was a really good experience."

The 63-55 loss to National Christian was closer than the final score indicated, Young said.

"We actually really had a chance to win that first game. It was like a two-point game with a couple minutes left," Young said. "Even though we lost, it was good to know that we can compete — and Hawaii basketball, in general — at that level, but we got outsized."

The Raiders, who are ranked first in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings, fell to Pickerington Central, 63-40, the following night before losing to Frederick, 66-55, on the final day of the tournament.

Despite the results, Young is hopeful that the experience will pay dividends as his team enters the final stretch of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu season.

"Playing against girls that are bigger and more athletic and as a whole, playing against teams that we're not gonna see that in Hawaii with the length and athleticism, that's invaluable and it really showed us what we have to work on because we're undersized," Young said.

The Title IX Classic ran from Dec. 27-29, but Iolani hung around to ring in the new year in the District.

"We spent three days after the tournament ended just to sightsee, go to the monuments, the museums — the Holocaust Museum, Arlington (National) Cemetery — really showing the girls how lucky they are and to appreciate what they have," Young said. "I think the trip was good for us. All that down time together, I think, made the team closer, so that was a big part of the trip, too."

The Raiders, who are 5-1 in league play and sit in first place entering the weekend, return to ILH action by hosting fifth-ranked Punahou Saturday afternoon.

The Buffanblu, who are tied for second at 4-2 in ILH games, didn't do any traveling over the break, but still took the time to appreciate some program history, along with the annual alumni game.

"We had the opportunity to meet with some of the alums who played for Punahou in the past, who were successful not only in basketball, but in life," interim coach Gary Pacarro said. "The alumni game was a great opportunity for our girls to see that there is life after playing basketball in high school and what was also great was the alums came back to share what tradition is."

With a roster comprised of six sophomores, four juniors and just two seniors, Pacarro — the longtime coach of the Buffanblu's D2 boys team — has taken a straight forward approach since D1 girls coach Shawna-Lei Kuehu took a leave of absence in October.

"It's about teaching and we've gone back to basics, to teaching the fundamentals of basketball again and creating opportunities for our ladies to learn and understand the game, so I think that's huge," Pacarro said.

Pacarro isn't entirely new to coaching girls. He coached both Punahou's D2 boys and girls teams from 1996 until 2008, when the girls' basketball season was moved from the spring to winter season to fall in line with the National Federation of High Schools.

"Once the boys season would be done in February, then I would take over the girls program, so I was doing two programs at one time. Once they split (seasons), I had to make a choice so I chose to stay with the boys and at that point, my younger brother, Cole, went with the girls' side. He spent a couple of years with them, then went off to Saint Francis when they started," Pacarro said. "It's been a great run. As much as I miss the boys, I'm really enjoying coaching the girls."

The Buffanblu have won three of their last four games since a 15-point loss to Iolani back on Dec. 10. Pacarro praised his two seniors — Kiarra Young and Sinalaulii Uluave — for providing guidance to their younger teammates.

"I think the development of our team has been great. The chemistry has really risen from what it was when we first started and that's a great thing. One of our core values when we were looking at it, was building chemistry and another thing was to gain experience," Pacarro said. "Our sophomores are playing well and our senior leadership has been very commendable with Kiarra and Sina being the team leaders. We're growing as a group, so I think that's a good thing."

Punahou will be playing its first game since a narrow two-point win at Sacred Hearts on Dec. 21. Pacarro said the players took the time to get healthy.

"We got a chance to heal up a little bit — we had some injuries — so that was good. We've got a full complement now. All 12 of them are back and I think we're back in shape and we're ready to go. They've worked hard over the break, but Iolani's been playing over the break and nothing can compare to playing good competition in a real-game sense, so that's going to be a real advantage on their part. For us though it was good, it gave us an opportunity to fine-tune all the things we need to do with a young team," Pacarro said.

The matchup will be a contrast of styles between Punahou's bigger lineup against Iolani's guard-heavy look.

"Iolani takes advantage of good opportunities to get to the basket with their five-out, no question about that. It's become the style of game that everybody's looking to play, but from where we are, it's not a game that suits us as well because we have some big bigs and so we gotta capitalize on that part of our game," Pacarro said. "I think what my bigs are having to learn is to get up and down the court. Hopefully we give them a real good game; I think it'll be real competitive. The pace of the game will be quick."

Young added, "Handling their size will be key. They like to pound the ball in, especially when Tama (Fonoti) is in the game, so just scheming-wise, we have to know how to guard her and then keeping them off the glass."

The Raiders pulled away from the Buffanblu in their last meeting, behind 14 points from Taylor Wu and 12 from Alexsandra Huntimer. They'll have the added benefit of a healthy Lily Wahinekapu (9.5 ppg in ILH games) this time around. Young said that the sophomore guard has fully recovered from a sprained ankle that forced her to miss a few games early in the season.

Tip off between Punahou and Iolani is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Raiders lower gym and will be followed by a Division I boys game between Maryknoll and Iolani at 5:30 p.m.