Three-time defending Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls basketball champion Punahou overcame an early-season setback to deny visiting Kamehameha, 43-29, last night at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.

The Buffanblu, who played without ILH all-star guard Mysha Sataraka, improved to 2-0 in league play. The Warriors, who opened the season with a 49-47 upset of 'Iolani, fell to 1-1.

Punahou coach Mike Taylor said Sataraka, a 5-foot-9 junior, tweaked her hamstring during Monday's practice. She watched last night's game from the bench wearing her warm-up sweats.

"She'll be OK, we just wanted to give her some rest," Taylor said.

Turner Wong led the Buffanblu with a game-high 12 points and Jennifer Ching added 11 points. Teammates Hailey Maeda and Julia Brand helped control the post with eight and seven points, respectively.

"Collectively, they kept everybody together," Taylor said. "We got great contributions from our bench, too. Everybody stepped up."

Ching's free throw with 53 seconds remaining in the first period capped a 5-0 run to end the quarter and put Punahou ahead, 12-6. Ching and Wong then opened the second quarter with layups to put the Buffanblu up by 10, and after Kamehameha's Krystal-Lei Mills swished a baseline jumper to cut it to 16-8, Brand answered with a medium-range bank shot and the Warriors could not get inside 10 points again.

"(Kamehemeha) has a good group, they have good athletes -- we're just lucky they weren't hitting their shots," Taylor said.

Mills and Lilia Maio led the Warriors with eight points each.

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