Lahainaluna posts win over Waiakea

Ana Lauese brought experience and the tradition of Lahainaluna’s winning ways to a young team this season. The senior post also brought her game, amassing 16 points and 10 rebounds as third-seeded Lahainaluna defeated Waiakea 46-28 on Wednesday night in the Division I quarterfinals of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Girls Basketball State Championships.

Guard Glelynn Casil added 10 points and four steals, and Jade Chihara had eight points and six of her team’s 15 steals. A crowd of about 500 saw Lahainaluna (25-3) show flashes of the tough defense and quick transition that were hallmarks of previous teams led by Maiki Viela and Milika Taufa.

“I just try to pretend that Milika and Maiki are here,” said Lauese, who also had three steals out of the Lunas’ halfcourt man and fullcourt press defenses. “But in the second half, I realized they aren’t here. We made mistakes, but we just had to get it back.”

Waiakea, which used just seven players in its triple-overtime, opening-round win over Roosevelt on Tuesday, managed to stay close for a half. Free throws by Taesha Aina tied the game at 23-all, but Casil’s baseline jumper at the buzzer gave the MIL champs a two-point lead at intermission.

Lahainaluna then took command with an 11-0 run to start the second half as Waiakea committed five turnovers in the first 3 minutes. Center Daven Namohala-Roloos, Waiakea’s best inside scorer, picked up her fourth personal foul and sat down.

The Lunas opened the lead to 15 early in the fourth quarter after a spin move in the post for a bucket by Lauese and a steal for an easy layup by Chihara.

Waiakea, which scored five points in the entire second half, got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.

“We had to pressure them. I think they got tired after playing a three-overtime game. We knew they’d sit back in a zone,” Lahainaluna coach Todd Rickard said. “We had to drive and draw fouls on their big girls. We don’t match up with their bigs’ size.”

Lauese was part of that quick fast break. So was junior Princess Lauvao, a multi-skilled swing player who finished with seven boards and five assists.

“We knew to push the ball because they don’t have a lot of subs,” she said.

It was a fast game until the second half, when the Lunas slowed the game down with a spread offense. The teams combined for 56 turnovers, including 29 by Lahainaluna.

“I was stressed,” Rickard said. “We have so many young players. It’s like directing traffic.”

Lauese kept encouraging her young teammates. She thinks another state title — they last won it in 2010 is possible.

“As long as we believe and have faith, of course we can do it,” she said. “We just have to play Lady Luna basketball.”

Sefulu Fa‘avae led Waiakea (22-6) with nine points. Alyssa Ferreira added seven.

Kylie Maeda scored 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting as the second-seeded Raiders rolled over the Trojans.

Maeda was aggressive from the start, looking to drive and finish more than usual. She also shot 4-for-5 from 3-point range. Saphyre Rezentes added eight points, while Abrianna Johnson-Edwards dished out five assists, including four in the second quarter when ‘Iolani (18-3) turned a three-point lead into a 29-9 cushion.

“I knew I had to have a different mind-set,” said Maeda, who will play at BYU next season. “Especially losing Alex (Masaquel), she adds a lot of points. We needed someone to step up and, as seniors, we have the power to do that.”

The Trojans had the bonus in their favor with 3 minutes left in the opening quarter, but shot just 4-for-13 from the line in the second quarter as ‘Iolani pulled away.

Mililani (15-9) turned to its full-court press to chip away, bringing the lead down to 37-25 on Kapili Amamalin’s follow shot early in the fourth quarter. That was as close as the Trojans got.

Posts Taimane Passi (eight rebounds) and Jade Botelho (six boards) helped ‘Iolani to a 22-21 rebounding edge. The Raiders’ fullcourt pressure and halfcourt man defense limited Mililani to 22-percent shooting (7-for-32).

‘Iolani shot 49 percent from the field (19-for-40), but committed 20 turnovers in its first game in 11 days.

Amamalin led Mililani with 17 points. She shot 11-for-19 from the foul line and grabbed six rebounds. Nayla Long added nine points and five rebounds.

Coming off a win over Kaimuki in the opening round, Mililani had more turnovers (14) than field-goal attempts (12) in the first half.

“The game plan was to get them running because they didn’t want a fast tempo,” Maeda said.

The Raiders will meet Lahainaluna for the first time this season in the semifinal round tonight at Blaisdell Arena.

“They’re a scrappy team. I know they’ll play hard,” Maeda added. “They’re just like us. It should be a fast game.”

Tatiana Mariano tossed in a game-high nine points and the Rough Riders rode a 16-4 second-quarter surge to victory over the Bulldogs.
Chelsea Wong added eight points for Roosevelt.
The Rough Riders play Kamehameha at 11 a.m. today at the Blaisdell Arena for the consolation title.