Tiare Kanoa sank a 12-foot bank shot with 9 seconds left to break a tie as No. 2 Kamehameha edged No. 6 Punahou 47-43 on Thursday night at Kekuhaupio Gymnasium.

Kamehameha improved to 3-0 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu. Punahou dropped to 1-2 in league play (6-3 overall).

"Their point guard made a tough shot," Punahou coach Courtney Robinson said. "Our girls played hard, rebounded well and did what we asked. We’ve improved from our first two games, taking better care of the ball. But she made a tough shot."

The shot by Kanoa wasn’t scripted. Kamehameha’s bench tried to call a timeout as the Warriors raced upcourt with the game tied at 43 and the clock ticking down.

"(Coach) called for a timeout. I wasn’t really sure because I didn’t know what part to call it and I wanted to make sure we had the ball secure," Kanoa said.

Coach Darold Imanaka was glad she got a good look.

"She’s got the green light. We had a special play for that situation, but we didn’t need it," he said.

After Kanoa’s go-ahead shot, Punahou called timeout with 8.4 seconds to go, but Kamehameha guard Kealani Ryder hustled to tip the inbounds pass, then made a leaping save. Kanoa put the game out of reach by hitting two free throws with 3.8 seconds left.

"We had fouls to give, but she made a great steal," Imanaka said.

Turner Wong led Punahou with 16 points and six assists. Freshman Tyra Moe added 10 points, while Keaupono Fey tallied six points and eight rebounds.

Kanoa, a junior guard, and classmate Alohi Robins-Hardy each finished with 14 points and sparked the comeback. Kamehameha trailed 14-6 after one quarter but went ahead 25-24 on Robins-Hardy’s spin move on the low post. The two combined for 11 of the Warriors’ 17 third-quarter points, but Punahou was resilient.

Long-range bombs from the arc by Kaitlyn Waki and Turner Wong in the final 40 seconds of the quarter gave Punahou a 34-32 lead.

Lilia Maio’s steal and baseline shot gave Kamehameha a 38-36 lead with less than 6 minutes to play. Then came a halfcourt trap featuring Robins-Hardy, a 6-foot-1 leaper, that led to a couple of Punahou turnovers, taking the visitors out of their flow.

Kamehameha seemed to have control after Robins-Hardy hit a foul shot for a 42-38 lead with 1:15 remaining, but Wong answered with an NBA-range 3-pointer from the top.

After another free throw by Robins-Hardy, Moe hit a turnaround 10-footer from mid-post to tie the game at 43, setting up Kanoa’s clutch basket.

Punahou committed 13 of its 21 turnovers in the second half, including eight in the final quarter. Kamehameha had just 10 giveaways. The Warriors had a slight edge on the boards (23-22), but had 14 offensive caroms to Punahou’s five.

Imanaka has seen consistent improvement by his squad.

"They’re in better condition than they were at the beginning of preseason. This year’s team is very cohesive. They play together and they’re very unselfish," he said.

Kanoa also had three steals and two assists. Robins-Hardy added four boards, three steals and two blocks.

Punahou’s versatile Samantha Alakai suffered an ankle injury with 5:59 left in the first half and didn’t return. She had six points, including a 3-point shot, three rebounds, a block and an assist before leaving.