Three times, a Kamehameha player tread water 5 meters away from the Punahou goal with glory on her mind.

Three times, goalkeeper Sarah Perez swatted away the penalty shot, and by extension, any hopes of the Buffanblu’s pool dominance ending anytime soon.

“I just stayed focused on the ball,” Perez said. “That’s the only thing I’m thinking about, and let my body take care of the rest.”

Punahou used unwavering focus to down Kamehameha 11-3 in the Stanford Carr Development/HHSAA water polo championship match on Saturday night in Kapalama’s Kalaniopu‘u Pool. It was a familiar result — the fifth year in a row the Buffanblu topped the Warriors in the final, and their 12th straight title overall.

Junior Christina Hicks scored five goals and heads up a strong contingent of returnees who will look to make it a baker’s dozen next spring.

“Just to finish it like that — they gave us the motivation to finish hard in the last two weeks after ILH champs (a 12-6 Punahou win),” said Hicks, the tournament’s most outstanding player who was 4-for-4 on shot attempts in the first half. “And it feels amazing.”

The physical Hicks was a handful for the Warriors, as expected, but the depth of the Buffanblu won the day, too, leading to another celebratory toss in the pool for Punahou’s legendary coach Ken Smith, 72.

“Our key has been just our defense that leads to our fast break. Keep putting pressure on people,” Smith said. “You don’t score goals on all your fast breaks, but you put people in bad defensive position, and then Christina’s open, because you’re worried about the fast break. It leads to other things.”

Victoria Gacutan scored twice and Josie Mobley, Sierra Smart, Mallory Meister and Dillyn Lietzke added goals.

Punahou loses only Perez, a two-year starter in goal, and center Kaya Lee, two members of the all-tournament team. The other 17 are slated to return and become the latest group to shoulder the expectation of another championship.

“It’s honestly such an honor, being with my teammates and knowing they have my back,” Perez said. “We’re all in it together to get to the next year, the next year. And all the competition every single year is up. It’s honestly a beautiful moment knowing we all have each other’s backs and the motivation to push, to train.”

Kamehameha coach Anthony Cabrera put his team through a healthy amount of mental training to go with the physical. It was important to believe that Punahou could be beaten.

That hasn’t happened since ‘Iolani won it all in 2007, when Punahou didn’t qualify for states. The Buffanblu have never lost (42-0) when they qualify.

“They’re always really good defensively, they always have well-trained goalies,” Cabrera said. “It’s tough. You gotta play an almost perfect game to even be competitive with them, let alone beat them. It’s tough, man. They’re a well-coached and well-trained team.”

He was proud of the effort, nonetheless.

Makela Riordan, Shaye Story and Kala‘i Terada scored for the Warriors. Cabrera will likely try to build around Story, a junior next season.

“You can never take a good team like Kamehameha for granted,” Smith said. “Every time we play them they battle you to the end. It says something about them and their coaching.”

Punahou has won all but two of the 16 state titles in the sport.