Kaimuki scored the first 10 points of the game and led by the dominating 27 point performance of Ashley Savusa, defeated Pearl City 60-47 in last night's OIA Red division playoff game at Radford.

In doing so, the Bulldogs reversed an earlier 32-29 loss to the Chargers in the OIA double elimination tournament and set up a third meeting between the teams Saturday at 5 p.m at Farrington. At stake will be the OIA Red division title and a first round bye in next week's state tournament.

Kaimuki(16-1) stretched its lead to 22-6 when Savusa made a 3-pointer with 5:56 left in the second quarter, only to see Pearl City (12-2) go on an 11-0 run with 3 treys over the next three minutes to get within 5 points at 22-17 with 2:41 left in the half. It was the closest that the Chargers would get.

30 seconds later, Savusa converted her own rebound, was fouled and completed a three-point play. By halftime the Bulldogs were up by ten, 30-20.

Kaimuki scored the first six points - four by Savusa - of the second half to match their biggest lead 36-20. Again, Pearl City came back, this time with an 11-2 run to cut the lead to seven, 38-31, but the Bulldogs scored the last four points of the third quarter to lead by eleven, 42-31.

In the fourth quarter, Kaimuki often beat Pearl City's press for close-range baskets and never let the Chargers get closer than 10 points. Savusa went down when her calf muscles tightened with 3:34 to play, but returned a minute later and scored the game's final basket.

"We knew what we had to do" said Savusa. What the Bulldogs did really well was shooting the ball, making 23 of 33 (70%) field goal attempts, mostly from close range.  They made 4 of 5 three-pointers. Keana Paez added 15  points in strong support of Savusa.

"We were self-motivated, after the last loss" said Kaimuki coach Mona Fa'asoa. "We were more aggressive and worked on ball movement.  We moved it a lot better, but still, gave them too many shots"

But the Chargers failed to take advantage, making only 15 of 55 field goal attempts, 6 of 22 from long range (both 27%). Pearl City's Adrienne Jean Sylva (team-high 14 points) and Sabrina Angle (10 points) each made 3 three-pointers. Dani Magana came off the bench and added 10 points.

"They came out aggressive and we came out passive", said Pearl City coach Mike Morton of falling behind 10-0. About the upcoming rubber match he warned "We are gonna be ready from the start, instead of sitting back."

Said Savusa about Saturday's title game, "We will try to do better." How she can top her outstanding performance of last night is hard to imagine.

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