HHSAA Girls Basketball
Sake's double-double sends Iolani back to Division I title game


Brandon Ching | ScoringLive
February 3, 2023, 6:07am

  

Thu, Feb 2, 2023 @ McKinley

Campbell

33

Iolani

41

Final 1 2 3 4  
Campbell (13-0, 16-6) 7 971033
Iolani (12-3, 20-5) 4 9 13 1541
Mele Sake 23 pts  7/10 FTs
Taysia Molina-Schulte 8 pts  2 3pm  0/2 FTs
Mele Sake 13 tot  6 off  7 def
Taysia Molina-Schulte 4 tot  4 def


Mele Sake would not be denied.

The junior center imposed her 6-foot-1 frame in the paint to lead top-ranked and seeded Iolani past No. 3 and fourth seeded Campbell, 41-33, in the Heide & Cook/HHSAA Division I Girls Basketball State Championships semifinals at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium.

The Raiders reach the state championship game for the fourth-straight year to face a familiar foe, second seed and No. 2 Konawaena for the third-straight time.

"I think it's really special for this group. We're a younger team and it's a good new team and to build our chemistry on court was special for us," Sake said.

"It's amazing, who knows if we were going to make it this year. We suffered adversity, injuries, and it put some doubt in people's minds but this team believes in each other," Iolani coach Dean Young said.

Iolani opened the season against Konawaena on Nov. 10 with a 50-34 win and it comes full circle as both teams meet for all the marbles on the final night of the season. Tip off between the Raiders and Wildcats is slated for 7:00 p.m. at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

The Sabers will face Kamehameha-Kapalama in the third place game at 5 p.m.

Sake scored a career-high 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting and grabbed 13 boards and blocked two shots. She shot 7-for-10 from the foul line.

"She was tough. She was tough in there and never gave up. Even on the misses, she kept putting it back up and she was a warrior tonight," Young said.

Sake extended the lead to five before Vaelua Fatu converted an assist from Taysia Molina-Schulte. Sake scored the next five points on a free throw and a shot from the right block and another shot in the paint to put Iolani up, 33-25.

Paige Oh hit Callie Pieper on a backdoor cut and Oh connected on both one-and-one free throws to give the Raiders' their largest lead, 37-28 with 1:04 on the clock.

"No, never, not against that team. That team can score a bunch of points in a short amount of time unless there are zeroes on the clock," Young said.

Aliyah Bantolina scored on a layup then hit a 3-pointer to get the Sabers within four, 37-33. Haylie-Anne Ohta was fouled and hit her free throws and Pieper, despite shooting 3-for-8 from the free throw line, made both foul shots for the final points of the night.

"Haylie is a senior leader and you expect her to make plays and to make the two free throws at the end. I am happy for her to see her step up in a leadership role in crunch time," Young said.

Bantolina and Molina-Shulte each scored eight and Faith Mersburgh had a game-high five steals in the loss.

"She runs the offense and she has to set up teammates. They have a bunch of scorers. Her ability to set teammates up, she played well. We tried to limit their open looks," Young said of Bantolina.

The Raiders turned to a 2-3 zone to limit Campbell's driving lanes.

"I think it helped us get more rest and it limited our fouls," Sake said.

"We played them in the preseason and we had our two starting guards healthy (Abby Tanaka and Keiki McGee). We went man-for-man in the preseason and ran with them and our motion. We were successful in the preseason against them. When we lost our guards, all of a sudden we don't have depth at guard. Callie is our next most-seasoned player and we're too big to guard them. We had to adjust and the girls did a great job adjusting," Young said referring to the 49-39 preseason win on Nov. 12.

Campbell led the entire first half and went up by as much as six following Bantolina's 3-pointer. Sake brought the Raiders within one with the and-one, but missed the free throw. Fatu threw up a shot in the paint to beat the buzzer as the Sabers led, 16-13.

"We knew they were going to come out strong and we had to protect the inside and like to drive-and-kick and drive in general and draw fouls," Sake said.

Mersburgh's drive made it 18-13 to open the third. Mia Frye scored off a steal and layup to bring Iolani within one and led the team with four steals. Pieper gave the Raiders their first lead momentarily with a bucket plus the foul. Cayden Parado inbounded it to Jaynalyn Sotelo but Sake converted Oh's assist and cleaned up the glass for a 23-20 lead.

Molina-Schulte hit her second triple to tie the game, but Frye split a pair of free throws and putback Oh's miss to give Iolani a three-point lead going into the final period.

Iolani had a 31 to 23 advantage on the boards and Sake had six of the 12 offensive rebounds that led to points. Pieper had eight rebounds to go along with her nine points.

"Since we were bigger, they were going to let us play and not call that much fouls. Just being strong and getting the first shot, if not get the rebound and put it back," Sake said.

Iolani shot 13-for-33 (39.4 percent) from the field and was 0-for-7 from the perimeter. The Raiders finished 15-for-25 from the free throw line.

Campbell shot 14-for-42 (33.3 percent) from the field and shot 4-for-13 from behind the arc.

The Raiders are seeking their eight-overall state championship in school history.


Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].




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