Konawaena's Caiyle Kaupu and Iolani's Lily Lefotu Wahinekapu each had big games in the semifinals to lead their respective teams to Saturday's championship game. CJ Caraang | SL

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KAKAAKO — Winning streaks will be on the line as the top two teams in the Hawaiian Electric Girls Basketball Power Rankings meet for all the marbles.

Top-ranked Iolani returns to the state title game after getting by No. 3 Waiakea, 57-44, while in the first semifinal game, No. 2 Konawaena was too much for No. 5 Kahuku, 56-39 to set up the anticipated matchup.

The Raiders are seeking back-to-back titles for the first time since 1996 while the Wildcats are in the hunt for their first state title since 2018 and 10th overall.

"We're excited to be in the championship game. I think three girls were on the team that made it. It's a new experience for almost all of them so it's pretty cool for them," Konawaena co-coach Dawnyelle Awa said.

Tip-off for the Snapple Division I Girls Basketball Championship is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena.

Iolani denied Konawaena last year in the state semifinals with a 43-22 win.

The two teams met earlier in the preseason tournament at McKinley back on Nov. 14 with the Raiders winning handily, 54-26. The Wildcats did not have a double-digit scorer in that game.

It's all but a distant memory.

"They're tough. They have two of the best players in the state, hands down" Iolani coach Dean Young said of Kaliana Salazar-Harrell and Caiyle Kaupu. "Both are challenging to stop in different ways and look what Caiyle did tonight, she was on a mission and we have our work cut out for us."

Konawaena has come a long way and is currently on a 14-game winning streak while Iolani is on a seven-game winning streak since its only loss to Maryknoll back on Jan. 14. All good things must come to an end for someone.

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_20020800_GBKB_WKEA-IOL_CJCARAANG-3038.jpg - CJ Caraang | SL

Iolani 57, Waiakea 44
A trio of Raiders scored in double figures led by Alexis Huntimer to propel Iolani back into the title game.

"We're not done yet, but it gives us another shot at it," Huntimer added.

Huntimer left the game after a fall and returned with treatment above her left eye to finish with a game-high 21 points, shot 10-for-10 from the free throw line, and had three blocks and three steals.

"We went inside and I had to get my composure a little bit. As soon as they stopped the bleeding, I was like, ‘Let's bandaid it up and let's get back out there' because it still close. It was single digits still and I wanted to get back out there," Huntimer said.

She returned to the bench and the court to a roar of approval from the Iolani fans.

"She did fantastic," Young said. "Look at the way she ended the game for us. That kind of mental toughness is unbelievable and that's what you want from your point guard."

The Raiders barely edged the Warriors in rebounds, 31 to 29 but managed to get Waiakea to turn it over 16 times in the game.

"It was clearly a battle. Waiakea was a big, athletic, rugged team. Their man-to-man defense was really tough and we had to work for shots, battle for rebounds and we did enough to pull it out today," Young said.

Lily Lefotu Wahinekapu added a double-double with 16 points and 15 boards, one block, and three steals and her sister Jovi Wahinekapu Lefotu sparked the Raiders offensively early to finish with 13.

The Raiders had to contain the Warriors' leading scorer and playmaker, Kelsie Imai (13.1 ppg) and their lineup of Jazelle Dorser, Keeli-Jade Smith, Bethany Homna and Destynee Williams presented its own challenges.

"Considering that was our game plan, I don't think we did that well. She's the engine that runs the team. If she's not scoring, she's creating scoring opportunities for her teammates. Every time she touches the paint, it's bad news for her opponents. Our whole goal was to keep her out of the paint, but we didn't do as well as we wanted, but we did enough to pull this out," Young said of slowing down Imai, who finished with 14 points.

"We never played them before and we tried to pick up how they were playing in the game. The main thing was one girl won't stop her, we needed the whole team. Everyone was going to help and recover," Huntimer said.

Wahinekapu Lefotu scored all of her points in the first half on drives to the rim to provide the offensive punch as Iolani led, 22-16 at halftime.

"At halftime I told Kyra (Tanabe) and Jo (Huntimer) they need to be more aggressive on offense and they need to look for their shot. It's a luxury to have players like Lily and Jovi. You don't want to get caught in the cycle where you're letting them score and watching. I reminded them to be aggressive offensively and they need to look for their shots and Jo did just that," Young said.

The Warriors got the game within five after Imai got the bucket plus the foul, but it was short-lived as Waiakea found themselves down 10 following Lefotu Wahinekapu's jumper and Huntimer's 3-pointer.

Waiakea continued to play catch up and got within eight as Keeli-Jade Smith, who chipped in 10, added a field goal, but Iolani scored the 15 points from the free throw line in the final 2 minutes 36 seconds to put the game out of reach and finished 23 of 29 (79 percent) overall.