Darcey Goulsby, Makana Borden, and Mele Adams combined for 31 points and nine steals to help Kaiser knock off King Kekaulike, 58-33, Tuesday night in the opening round of the Hawaiian Airlines Division I girls' state basketball tournament at McKinley.

The Cougars will play top-seeded and 2009 state champion Konawaena in a 7 p.m. quarterfinal at McKinley Wednesday. It will follow the 5 p.m. quarterfinal between 'Iolani and fourth-seeded Farrington.

Goulsby led the Cougars with 12 points with Borden chipping in 10, while Adams scored nine. Each had three steals that were a part of the 32 turnovers by Na Ali'i, who will play Kaimuki at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the consolation bracket.

"That's our game," Kaiser coach Simon Bitanga said of his team capitalizing on Na Ali'i turnovers. "The speed we have, we can match up with the big. But tomorrow, we have Konawaena and they're not No. 1 for nothing."

The game started off close, tied at 5 with 3:31 in the first quarter. But a rash of turnovers in the closing two minutes of the quarter saw the Cougars open their lead to 13-9. The turnovers continued into the second quarter and Kaiser took a commanding 32-17 lead at the half.

"You control the turnovers, you can control the tempo of the game," King Kekaulike coach Stephen Cramer said. "I must've counted 25, 30 turnovers. Twenty-five, 30 turnovers equals 30 to 40 points on the opposite side.

Taylor Fernandez led Na Ali'i with 12 points.

But King Kekaulike suffered in nearly all phases, going 0 for 8 from 3-point range and shooting 5 of 17 from the free throw line. The Cougars also had 48 rebounds to Na Ali'is 36.

King Kekaulike, the Maui Interscholastic League runner-up to champion and defending state champion Lahainaluna, is its first state tournament in the school's 16-year history.

"I started two freshmen (guards Brandi Carillo and Dasya Tavares) and one of them got into foul trouble early," Cramer said. "So I have to be pleased with getting here, but not pleased with the way we performed because when you make it to the state tournament, you have to realize you are one of the best 12 here and you have to perform that way. Tonight, we didn't perform to the way I expected them to perform as a representative of the state."

Meanwhile, the Cougars will be facing a team focused on reclaiming a title it lost last year against Lahainaluna. The Wildcats are 32 minutes of high-pressure defense.

"We'll just do the same thing we always do," Bitanga said. "We're not going to change our game plan. But they're tough. They're in a league of their own, but I'm fortunate and happy to play the No. 1 team. I didn't want to come through the bottom and never see'em. At least we're going to know where we're going to be."

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