Koga leads by 2 in girls state golf

Moanalua sophomore Eimi Koga has a two-shot lead over two seniors going into today’s final round of the David S. Ishii Foundation/HHSAA Girls Golf Championships.

Koga, who has won the past two Oahu Interscholastic Association titles, shot a 2-under-par 70 yesterday at Waikoloa Village on the Big Island. Her closest pursuers are defending champion Cassy Isagawa, a Baldwin senior headed to Oregon for college, and Punahou senior Alina Ching, headed to Pepperdine.

Shannon Abarra (Kamehameha-Maui), Marissa Chow (‘Iolani) and Michelle Condry (Punahou) are tied for fourth at 74.

Punahou, going for its fifth straight team title, is in first with a total of 223 (best three of four scores). Cyd Okino and Kacie Komoto fired 77s to complement Ching and Condry.

The Buffanblu are five shots ahead of Baldwin, which got a 76 from Kalea Heu and an 80 from Marissa Uradomo. Waiakea (235) is third, behind Ciera Min (77) and Nani Yanagi (78), while Kauai High is fourth (241), anchored by senior Kellie Oride’s 79. Moanalua is fifth at 249.

The leaders were scheduled go to out at 8:30 this morning off the first tee.

Baron and Nelson place fifth

Hawaii’s Shelby Baron and her partner, Ryan Nelson, lost the opening set in a tiebreaker, then rallied to win their doubles match yesterday and clinch fifth place for the United States juniors at the ITF Wheelchair Tennis World Team Cup in Pretoria, South Africa. The U.S. was sixth last year.

Baron, No. 4 in the world rankings for girls, made a splash in her debut at the tournament. The tournament involves 200-plus athletes from 30 countries and is considered the wheelchair game’s Davis Cup.

The Punahou sophomore lifted the U.S. to a round-robin win over South Africa in her opening match, losing just six games combined in singles and doubles. She fell in straight sets in the U.S. loss against defending champion Spain, then got the lone American win in a loss against Netherlands.

Yesterday, Baron dropped her singles match, but teamed with Nelson for a 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-0 doubles win in the decisive match.

All-Hawaii matchup set Down Under

Hawaii’s Carissa Moore and Melanie Bartels will face off in a quarterfinal of the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic at Dee Why Beach in Sydney.

Bartels knocked out Paige Hareb in the fourth round of the Association of Surfing Professionals contest with an 11.90 earlier today, setting up the match against Moore, the world’s No. 2 women’s surfer. Hawaii’s Coco Ho was eliminated in the fourth-round action.