For three of four periods, Baldwin and Kapolei played to a push in the pool.

But for the seven minutes of the second quarter, the Bears shoved.

That was the difference as Baldwin exorcised some recent first-round futility in the Stanford Carr Development/HHSAA Water Polo State Championships with a 15-7 victory over the Hurricanes on Wednesday.

With things tied at 2 going into the second period at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex, the Maui Interscholastic League runners-up did what they do best: take a break.

They leaked out repeatedly and effectively, lobbing passes ahead before the Hurricanes could mount defensive pressure. The Bears rattled off nine unanswered goals in the period, as part of a 10-0 run overall for a 12-2 lead.

“Probably 50 percent of our offense is our counterattack, our fast break,” coach Shawn Donahue said. “We try to get out, get up on them. Get that pass up quickly. Try to rush the goalie and get early shots going, get them rattled. That’s a big part of our offense, the counter.”

Rebecca Buenrostro Gallimore had all three of her goals during that decisive stretch, Kendra Bean had a game-high four scores and Dyllan Cabiles netted two. Six other Bears got on the scoreboard.

Eyebrow raises are not an official statistic, but subtle facial recognition came into play repeatedly.

“I think it’s just, we have the advantage of knowing what’s going to happen,” Bean said. “We know each other’s minds pretty good. We practice passing, we get the good look. We do the eyebrows. We’re just ready to use it to our advantage.”

It hasn’t always worked out that way — Lahainaluna won the MIL title — but the Bears (11-3) put something together at the right time.

“We just wanted to continue playing strong and tried to work as a team,” said Buenrostro Gallimore, a sophomore. “We struggled with that in the past, so we wanted to get that out in the pool.”

Baldwin earned a date with perennial OIA champion Kahuku (13-1) today at 4 p.m.

It is Baldwin’s sixth straight year in the state tournament, but it was the first time over that span the Bears won their first game. Their best finish to date is sixth, in 2013 when they were the MIL’s seeded team.

“We definitely struggled with that (first game) in the past,” Bean said. “This is just a big, great win and it’s really exciting to get this to start the tournament.”

Kapolei coach Dex Lee tried to slow the onslaught with timeouts, to little effect. The Hurricanes knocked the Bears out of the championship bracket in 2012, 2013 and 2014, but had no answer this time.

“We have a history with them. They were a lot better,” Lee said. “They were organized, they knew what they wanted to do, they were set up well. They were fast. They beat us pretty much in all phases.”

Kapolei, an annual state participant, was hurt this year by a reduction in pool time because of a lease issue, Lee said.

Annika Slattery led the Hurricanes with three scores, while Jasmyn Palombo and Mailani Wendt scored two apiece.

Roosevelt 14, Waialua 4

In a battle of the OIA’s second- and sixth-place teams, the Rough Riders welcomed the Bulldogs to their first state tournament by scoring the game’s first five goals and never looking back.

Roosevelt, one of two teams (Kahuku) to participate in all 13 water polo state tournaments, advanced to face fourth-seeded Lahainaluna at 2:45 p.m.

Junior Taylor Brooks scored seven goals to lead the Riders (15-1), while Laura Young had four.

Senior Gabriella Delgado had two scores to pace Waialua (8-8).

Kaiser 9, Hawaii Prep 8

The Cougars maintained a narrow lead on Ka Makani almost the whole way and advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in their last four tries.

Kaiser (11-4), the OIA’s third-place squad, draws top-seeded Punahou, the undefeated eight-time defending state champion, in today’s nightcap at 6:30.

Ana Alumbaugh led the Cougars with five goals, while BIIF runner-up HPA (11-2) got two scores apiece from Janelle Laros and Erin Evans.

Kamehameha 11, Kalani 2

After the Falcons took a surprising 2-1 lead in the first quarter, it was all Warriors.

Last year’s state runners-up scored 10 unanswered goals to book a date with sister school Kamehameha-Hawaii, the third seed, at 5:15 p.m.

Kaylen Nitahara and Payton Bosque led the Kapalama Warriors (5-4) with four scores apiece.

Lisa Namatame and Charity Lopes had the goals for the Falcons (10-6), the OIA’s fourth-place team.