Kylie Maeda scored 16 points as No. 5 ‘Iolani pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 51-41 win over No. 3 Punahou last night at the Raiders’ gym.

A boisterous crowd of about 400 saw ‘Iolani climb back into a first-place tie with the Buffanblu in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu at 6-2.

"It gets us tied with them for first," said Maeda, who shot 6-for-11 from the field and 4-for-4 from the foul line. "Bottom line is, we know we can beat ’em. It gives us a boost of confidence."

Forward Alex Masaquel had 14 points and eight rebounds for ‘Iolani (11-6 overall) after a slow start.

"We finally beat them. It’s my first time beating them," the 5-foot-10 sophomore said. "We had more motivation, and our chemistry is better now."

Maeda also had four steals as the Raiders’ fullcourt and halfcourt traps forced 34 turnovers by the visitors. Punahou prepared for ‘Iolani’s tortuous defensive pressure by going five against seven every day.

"We worked hard in practice. We wanted to be perfect attackers, but we weren’t even patient for two passes before we tried to dribble through traps," Punahou coach Mike Taylor said. "But they don’t trust each other enough to give up the ball. We’ve got to do some soul-searching."

Though Punahou outrebounded ‘Iolani 41-25, the Buffanblu had just four offensive boards in the second half after hustling for 15 before the break.

"Hailey (Maeda) got in foul trouble. That was big down the stretch," Raiders coach Eddie Maruyama said of Punahou’s center.

Masaquel was clutch at the foul line, hitting eight of her nine tries. As a team, the Raiders were 24-for-33 (73 percent). Saphyre Rezentes added 10 points.

Guard Mysha Sataraka had 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead Punahou (11-2 overall). Hailey-Ann Maeda had nine points, 11 boards and five blocks before fouling out. Julia Brand finished with seven points and five caroms.

Along with the giveaways, Punahou shot 59 percent at the foul line (16-for-27) and 26 percent from the field (12-for-47).

Despite early turnover trouble, Punahou broke ‘Iolani’s press enough to take a 12-6 lead midway through the second quarter. The Raiders kept attacking Punahou’s man-to-man defense and started their parade to the free-throw line, hitting six of seven charity shots.

Free throws by Lahela Usui and a tough bank shot by Maeda gave ‘Iolani a 20-16 lead before the half, and Punahou never led again.

The Buffanblu were within 38-35 on a pair of foul shots by Jennifer Hwang with 2:51 remaining.

Usui followed with a layup on a fastbreak, then fed Kaitlyn Shikada in the left corner in transition. Shikada hit her only bucket of the game, a 3-pointer, to give ‘Iolani a 43-35 lead with 2:28 remaining.

"A 3 is gonna bury the other team more than a 2 would," Kylie Maeda said.

Two foul shots by Kylie Maeda on Hailey-Ann Maeda’s fifth foul stretched the lead to 10 points. Punahou got no closer than seven the rest of the way as ‘Iolani finally pulled the ball out with about 90 seconds to go.

The Raiders had 21 turnovers, but the uptempo show is winning games for the Raiders.

"We go uptempo all four quarters. Our drills, our philosophy is ‘fast don’t lie.’ Go to the hole or shoot the 3," assistant coach Rodney Veary said.

Many teams opt to hold the ball with a small lead and less than 3 minutes left, but Maruyama’s Raiders won’t be going that route.

"Two minutes, that’s a lot of basketball left with Punahou. They know how to lengthen a game," he said.

‘Iolani shot 13-for-18 from the foul line in the final quarter.