Reina Furuya made seven of eight free-throw tries in overtime as the No. 3 Punahou girls escaped with a 53-46 win over No. 6 Kamehameha Wednesday at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.
Kamehameha’s phenomenal rally in the fourth quarter from a 16-point deficit silenced a crowd of about 400. Down 44-42 with 3.9 seconds left, Warriors guard Kealani Ryder tipped an inbounds pass, and the ball was scooped up by Alohi Robins-Hardy for a 5-foot bank shot as the regulation buzzer sounded, sending the game into an extra period.
From there, Furuya was on point at the foul line.
“They’re a great team,” she said. “We knew they weren’t going to give up. When that stretch of adversity came, we just had to stick together. I just tried to do it for my team.”
It was a strong finish for a guard whose No. 1 sport is softball; she has already signed with Penn State.
“It’s a huge step. It’s a monster week for us with Kamehameha today and ‘Iolani on Saturday,” Punahou coach Kekoa Taliaferro said. “We play great when we’re loose and everybody’s having a good time. We have a lot of fun personalities. But when we’re tense, it’s hard to recover.”
Punahou improved to 3-0 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu (6-0 overall). Kamehameha dropped to 0-2.
Warriors coach Darold Imanaka was terse after the game.
“No comment,” the former Kalani coach said.
Warriors assistant coach Kevin Velasco was optimistic.
“The kids worked hard to come back and get into overtime. We came out a little flat early in the game. It’s just little things we have to work on,” Velasco said.
Kamehameha’s Lilia Maio finished with 21 points and nine rebounds.
Punahou built its lead to 34-18 midway through the third quarter on Turner Wong’s offensive board and left-handed drive for a layup.
The Warriors were still trailing by 16 as the fourth quarter opened. That’s when Ryder hit a follow shot and Brachelle Nueku scored on a reverse layup to spark the comeback.
Robins-Hardy, who finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, sliced through Punahou’s 2-3 zone for 10 points in the fourth stanza.
Punahou led 42-38 with 11.3 seconds to go in regulation after a free throw by Mysha Sataraka. Maio then went coast-to-coast and hit a tough runner from the left elbow to bring the Warriors within 42-40 before Imanaka called time out with 3.9 seconds left.
That set up Ryder’s steal and Robins-Hardy’s layup to force overtime.
That’s when Kamehameha went cold from the field after expending massive energy in the rally. Kamehameha was 9-for-16 from the field in the fourth quarter, but went 2-for-7 in overtime.
A free throw by Furuya gave Punahou the lead for good, 47-46, with 1:28 to go. Sydney Fanoga then hustled on a missed foul shot by Sataraka for her only bucket of the game, and Punahou led 49-46 with 44 seconds remaining.
Furuya sank four more free throws in the final 25 seconds to seal a hard-earned win.
Fanoga had a team-high 10 rebounds for Punahou, which had a slight edge (30-29) over the visitors.
Punahou shot 43 percent from the field (17-for-40). Kamehameha shot 34 percent (20-for-59). Punahou had 18 turnovers to Kamehameha’s 11.
The Buffanblu had a big edge at the foul line, shooting 16-for-24. Kamehameha was 6-for-8.
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