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Tenacious, merciless and swarming Falcons from end to end.
Let the record show that the Kalani Falcons are the first girls basketball team to win an OIA Division II championship and follow it the next season with a D-I crown. Senior Logan Luke scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Lady Falcons cruised to a 55-33 win over Moanalua to capture the OIA title on Wednesday night at McKinley Student Council Gymnasium.
They also rode the torrid shooting of Kaylie Espinas (15 points) and freshman Alayna Akiona, who had four 3-pointers and 14 points.
It was quite a difference from the regular-season matchup, when Moanalua rallied for a 60-55 win on Kalani’s senior night.
“The shots weren’t falling and we didn’t recover,” Kalani coach Chi Mok recalled. “After the game the girls cried their hearts out. We had to humble ourselves. How would we respond to adversity?”
East runner-up Kalani (14-8, 10-2 OIA) won its first D-I championship since 2008 when George Weeks was head coach. This year’s Falcons, like the ’08 version, aren’t shy about launching the 3-ball. Akiona drained three 3-pointers in the opening quarter, and after Espinas beat the buzzer with her first trey of the game, the fast-breaking Falcons had a whopping 28-8 lead.
From there, Moanalua (15-10, 9-4 OIA) dealt with turnovers and foul trouble. Center Delylah Sanerivi, who powered Na Menehune to a third-place finish in the East with seven consecutive wins — ousting East No. 1 Kahuku in the semifinals on Monday — finished with just seven points and eight rebounds.
The Falcons led 38-19 at the half and opened the lead to 51-22 at the end of the third quarter. Moanalua was so out of sync that nobody bothered to count down the final seconds and the clock ran out before they even looked to shoot.
Espinas led Kalani with 15 points and Akiona tallied 14. Daesha Viela orchestrated the up-tempo attack and had nine assists to go with seven points. Luke, like her teammates, was fully energized and hustled for six offensive rebounds against a Moanalua squad that seemed fatigued and a step slower than normal.
“It’s not an excuse. Kalani was ready and we weren’t ready mentally,” Moanalua coach Tani Almont-Done said. “We’ve just got to learn from this and get ready for the state tournament.”
The Snapple/HHSAA Girls Basketball Division I State Tournament tips off on Monday with opening-round play. The tourney resumes on Thursday, Feb. 1, with the quarterfinal round. OIA champion Kalani will have a bye until the quarterfinals.
Before emptying the bench in the fourth quarter, Kalani shot a hot 52 percent from the field (22-for-42), including 8-for-13 from the arc.
“We’ll never hold them back. They have the green light,” Mok said. “We want to run at a pace that the ILH teams run at.”
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