Title was not a dream

It was 21 minutes of a nightmare that the Kamehameha Warriors just couldn’t escape.

Hope faded. The worst of all possible scenarios was happening live. On statewide TV. They just couldn’t wake up from this bad, bad dream.

For Konawaena, it was a fantasy beyond imagination. A clinic, really, of basketball precision, passing and teamwork. A four-point lead after one quarter stretched to a 13-point margin at halftime.

After going up 33-13 with three minutes left in the third Friday, Konawaena seemed unstoppable. All that was left was for Kamehameha to surrender. For the Wildcats to coast to a sixth state title. For the nets to be cut by the team in white and green. For the Blaisdell Arena lights to go out. Everybody go home. The small-town Wildcats have done it again. Good try, Kamehameha. You’ll be back next year.

Instead, the Warriors woke up. They refused to accept defeat. They turned the tables and made history. A miraculous 25-0 run brought them back into the game. In overtime, it was more of the same. Clutch free throws. Defensive stops.

And Konawaena just couldn’t buy a layup. All the backdoor passing lanes were closed off. So were open looks from the arc. It resembled, at times, the loss to Lahainaluna in the 2010 final, when a strong post named Milika Taufa outran and outbanged the Wildcats en route to a 26-point game and a comeback win for the state crown.

This time, it was Kamehameha senior Lilia Maio in a similar role, shooting lights out on the fast break, in the low post. Finesse, power and a soft stroke that kept her teammates feeding her over and over for 14 points after halftime.

A 45-39 win by the resilient Warriors capped a perfect 19-0 season.

Just one day after the biggest comeback in girls basketball state tournament finals history, it’s still almost too much to believe.

"It feels the same. Incredible," Kamehameha coach Darold Imanaka said on Saturday morning, just 12 hours removed from the title game.

Maio was her same calm self moments after the game.

"Konawaena’s a good-coached team," she said. "We worked together with heart and we did it."

Some points to ponder:

» Early in the fourth quarter, with Konawaena still up by a large margin, guard Chanelle Molina brought the ball up the right sideline when Warriors defender Kealani Ryder charged at her. Ryder stumbled, lost her footing and crashed into Molina, who lost the ball out of bounds.

The ball was given to Kamehameha, and Konawaena coach Bobbie Awa stood up and questioned the call. That no-call proved to be huge. It would have been Ryder’s fifth personal foul.

Within a couple of minutes, she hit a no-look hook shot in the key, then made a layup that brought the lead down to 10.

Ryder fouled out with 1:57 to go, but the Warriors were within 37-35 by then.

» Konawaena came into the season with lots of question marks after the graduation of Lia Galdeira and Dawnyelle Awa, both now starting at Washington State.

Kamehameha didn’t exploit this weakness in Konawaena’s lineup until Maio became a consistent target. Beyond Courtney Kaupu, who played almost every minute in the tournament, and freshman Ihi Victor, the Wildcats had no posts with size or experience to counter Kamehameha’s combination of posts led by Maio.

» Back when Konawaena’s ascension to elite status was fairly new, getting a top seed wasn’t the norm. The HHSAA seeding committee has relied more on past results than current success to gauge seedings. That’s why unbeaten Kamehameha got a No. 2 seed behind Konawaena, which lost in the preseason to Mililani.

Though some fans considered Konawaena the best team coming in, the Wildcats escaped with a 40-38 win over OIA runner-up Mililani after trailing for most of the quarterfinal game.

As Kamehameha fell behind Friday, Konawaena looked like the crisper, smarter, smoother team — for three quarters. After that, the Warriors’ will and depth were their biggest assets.