KAPOLEI -- Kawehi Hagi scored five of her nine points in the fourth quarter and rallied Kapolei to a  45-41 win over Kahuku Thursday night in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Division Tournament game.

The Hurricanes, who trailed most of the game, improved to 16-1 with the win and advanced to meet Farrington Thursday in a 6:30 p.m. game that will be televised live statewide on OC16. Kapolei must beat the Governors, who have yet to lose in the double-elimination tournament, to force a winner-take-all rematch Saturday. Kahuku, which fell to 8-9, will be the league's third seed in next week's Hawaiian Airlines/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Girls Basketball State Championships.

Last night, the Hurricanes were led by guard Krystal Jacobs, who scored a game-high 15 points and center Toe Mofu, who added 13 for the OIA Red West champions.

"It does feel good, I feel good for the girls," Kapolei coach Jesse Baugh said. "It's been 11 years (since Kapolei opened) and (18) years since a (Western Division) team has won an OIA championship, so we're very happy to be able to represent the West in the title game."

Not since 1993, when Moanalua won back-to-back crowns, has a team from the Western Division won an OIA championship game.

"For so long, the East has been considered the power conference, I can remember coaches saying their eighth seed could beat our No. 1 seed, so for us to take this road to the championship - beating all these East teams on the way there - it feels good and I feel like we're getting better along the way," Baugh said.

Kahuku, the East's fifth seed, fell behind early on, but used an 11-4 run, including seven straight points, to take an 11-7 lead after the first quarter. Kapolei tied it midway through the second quarter a 3-pointer by Jacobs, but the Red Raiders held on to a 23-21 lead at halftime.

In the second half, the Hurricanes went early and often to Mofu, whose putback minutes into the third quarter tied it at 28. However, Kahuku scored six of the next eight points and extended their lead to 34-31 after three quarters.

A 3-pointer by Fiatagata Tailele-Latu with five minutes and 35 seconds to play gave the Red Raiders a 37-33 lead, but Mofu ignited an 8-0 run with her right-handed hook shot on Kapolei's next offensive possession. Hagi tied it minutes later after making the first of two free throws. She missed the second, but Kayla Fuataga grabbed the rebound for Kapolei and put her team ahead, 39-37, with 2:51 left in the game.

Hagi made it a four-point lead after a pair of free throws, but Kahuku's Joshy Noga answered with an inside basket. Jessica Falemalu then stole the ball from Kapolei and broke away for an easy layup to tie it at 41 with 1:17 to play.

However, Hagi drew a foul on the other end of the court and made both free throws to put the Hurricanes back ahead. After a Kahuku miss, Jacobs sealed it with two more free throws with 19 seconds left.

Jacobs said the Hurricanes simply refused to lose.

"We came together and we told each other that 'we're not losing, we want to get to the championship,'" she said.

Baugh said his team has performed well in the fourth quarter of games all season.

"The middle of the third, the fourth quarter is probably our strong point, that's when we come back on teams," Baugh said. "They actually settled down and did what we were supposed to do and making those free throws at the end really helped us out."

Hagi said she tried to tune everything out as she stood at the free-throw line late in the game.

"I wasn't even thinking," Hagi said. "I just shot it, I wasn't even thinking about the game, it was just natural."

Thursday's matchup against the Govs provides Kapolei a chance at some payback. The Hurricanes' only loss in the OIA tourney was a six-point, overtime loss against Farrington on Jan. 14.

"The Farrington game, that's where we lost it, we were down 17 points and came back and then we had opportunities to make our free throws, we just blew up and missed all our free throws," said Baugh, who noted he has put a point of emphasis on free throws in recent practices.

"We practice those so much in practice and we make sure that we make them so I guess it really paid off when we needed it to," Jacobs said. "This is our senior year and we want to make it to the championship and make history for our school and it's such an awesome feeling."

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