OIA Girls Basketball
Farrington topples Kahuku, 66-55


 

Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ Farrington


Final 1 2 3 4  
Kahuku (8-9, 10-11) 18 1052255
Farrington (10-2, 16-6) 18 19 12 1766
B. Tatupu-Leopoldo 29 pts  5 3pm
J. Noga 14 pts
This time, Farrington left no room for drama.

Brydgette Tatupu-Leopoldo scored a game-high 29 points, including five 3-pointers, and Kirsten-Marie Liana grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Governors over Kahuku, 66-55, Thursday night in a championship-bracket game of the O'ahu Interscholastic Association girls' Red Tournament at the Richard Kitamura Memorial Field House.

Kahuku (8-8), the East's fifth seed in the tourney, will play Tuesday against the winner of Friday's Kapolei-Kaimuki elimination-bracket game. The winner of that game will play Farrington for the championship Thursday at Mililani. But for Farrington, if it loses, it can make it up again Jan. 29 because the tourney is double elimination.

In Farrington's previous game at Kapolei, it squandered a 17-point lead before winning in overtime to advance in the tourney.

Although Farrington has the benefit of extra rest for the title game, it knows it just can't rely on Tatupu-Leopoldo and Liana.

"More we've seen teams try to key on Kirsten inside and Brydgette outside," Farrington coach Caroline Tatupu said. "We talked to our girls that if teams are going to do this, the rest of them are going to have to step up their game to do their part, to carry the load, when teams start doubling the two. Our team is more than just the two of them."

Kahuku and Farrington came out hot, trading baskets in a tight first quarter that ended 18-18. Half of the Govs' output were from three successive 3-pointers by Tatupu-Leopoldo. Six of Kahuku's points came on successive baskets from Joshlyn Noga after rebounds. Twelve of her 14 points came off offensive boards.

The Red Raiders managed to take a 24-23 lead with 5:17 left in the second quarter after Allyson Te'o scored off a fast break. But the tide turned when Tatupu-Leopoldo drained her fourth 3 with 5:02 to give Farrington a lead it would build the rest of the way.

The Governors sort of stuttered out of the gate to start the third, watching Kahuku pull to with 37-33. But Farrington closed the quarter with a 9-0 run, including a 3-pointer from Ashley Savusa, to take a commanding 49-33 lead into the fourth quarter.

The big lead negated three early Farrington turnovers that led to four points for Kahuku to start the fourth. Farrington also made 11 of 13 free throws down the stretch to keep its distance from Kahuku.

Jessica Falemalu also had 14 points for the Red Raiders, who had a modest five-game winning streak snapped.

For Kahuku, the Kitamura Fieldhouse hasn't been kind. The Red Raiders lost 69-49 to the Govs during a regular-season meeting there. They took good shots that just didn't fall.

"We don't have much luck in this gym," Kahuku coach David Te'o said. "I'm a superstitious individual, things like that, but we can't let that be the obstacle in any game like this. We have to go back to the drawing board and see what works and what doesn't work."


Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].




Show your support

Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ScoringLive continue its mission to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage of high school sports in the state of Hawaii and beyond.

Please consider making a contribution today.

ADVERTISEMENT


MORE STORIES

Waialua stuns Kailua in five sets to win first-ever OIA D2 crown

The Bulldogs dropped the first two sets and rallied for the next three to stun the Surfriders for their...

Moanalua fends off Mililani in 5 for fifth straight OIA boys volleyball title

Ezekiel Sablan put down 20 kills, Jaycen Bush tallied 14 and D'Angelo Ross added 13 to lead Na Menehune...

Punahou needs extra innings to top Maryknoll, keep season alive

Buffanblu scored five big runs in to break a 2-2 in the top of the ninth then held off a Spartans' rally...

Higashionna leading the charge for Pearl City; Bautista's emergence a boon for Mililani

The junior second baseman batted 9 for 15 in four OIA tournament games for the Chargers last week, while...

Trojans sweep past Knights, Na Menehune cruise by Sabers to set-up familiar OIA final

Wednesday's OIA Division I championship will be a rematch of the last two title games; Moanalua will...

Aiea downs Radford to claim first OIA D2 title since 2017

Na Alii led early and rapped out 13 total hits to pull away from the Rams to clinch their first OIA Division...