Kamehameha girls hold off Maryknoll for 1-point victory

The Kamehameha girls basketball team built a large cushion against Maryknoll on Saturday night and the Spartans made sure the Warriors needed every bit of it.

Kamehameha started with a 20-point lead and hung on to beat a game Maryknoll squad 53-52 at Kamehameha.

The win made the Warriors (4-0) the last remaining unbeaten ILH team. Maryknoll dropped to 2-1.

"(The Warriors) were enthusiastic, they wanted it and were hustling," Kamehameha coach Darold Imanaka said. "After that they pulled back and they didn’t play our game. It’s simple. They were resilient, and a win is a win. You can’t be unhappy about a win, can you?"

No. 2 Kamehameha outworked No. 6 Maryknoll like it didn’t want to suffer the same fate Punahou did against the Spartans earlier this year.

Kamehameha ran up a 24-4 lead two minutes into the second quarter, scoring the game’s first nine points. The Warriors forced the frustrated Spartans into five straight turnovers to close the first quarter and converted three of them.

"It was nerves," Maryknoll coach Chico Furtado said. "Big games like this. We are young, inexperienced a little bit. They have to believe in their heads they can play, and that’s what happened. Once we settled down and hit shots we were OK. We have a lot of things to correct, but with the intensity and belief we can play this game, that’s a start."

The Spartans forced five turnovers in six possessions and hit the layups they missed in the first quarter to cut the huge deficit to five with 15 seconds left in the half when Maegen Martin hit on a post move. Alohi Robins-Hardy had a putback on the other end and Kamehameha went into the break up by seven, 30-23.

The Warriors kept the inspired Spartans at bay until they went to a spread offense with a seven-point lead with 3:31 left in the game. The stall worked, taking nearly two minutes off the clock before Maryknoll put Kamehameha at the line.

Lilia Maio stepped up with 1:42 left and clanged the first of a 1-and-1 and Maryknoll followed with a score. The scene repeated itself with a different free-throw shooter on the next four possessions and Maryknoll climbed to within two points, 51-49, with 10.3 seconds left. Tiare Kanoa made both of her free throws, the first time in the game the Warriors put two successive attempts together.

Cianna Ochoco buried a 3-pointer off the glass from the top of the key with two seconds left to pull Maryknoll within one, 53-52. Kanoa stepped to the line to end it for Kamehameha but missed both shots. Maryknoll, however, turned the ball over trying to work a desperation shot.

The Warriors were 6-for-17 from the line in the game, 4-for-12 in the fourth quarter.

"We’ll take the win, but it was an ugly one," Robins-Hardy said. "Serious. I think we had too much relaxation and didn’t have as much fire."

Kamehameha lost captain Brachelle Nueku to a knee injury just 2½ minutes into the game and it’s not known if it is serious or not. She couldn’t walk on it afterward.

In all, the Warriors got scoring from eight different players and substituted freely, with starters Kanoa, Robins-Hardy and Maio all scoring 10 points.

Maryknoll got points from 10 different players, led by Ochoco’s 15 and Maia Laboy’s 11.

Kamehameha plays host to Mid-Pacific on Wednesday, and Maryknoll visits Sacred Hearts on Tuesday.