Shilee Scanlan scored all 16 of her points in the second half, including 12 in the final quarter, as Pearl City edged Roosevelt 47-44 on Thursday night in the opening round of the OIA Division I girls basketball playoffs.
Scanlan’s two free throws opened the margin to three points with 11.5 seconds left. Roosevelt guard Makelah Richardson’s 3-point shot off the dribble missed at the buzzer. Richardson, a junior guard, had a phenomenal performance with 30 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.
The Chargers (11-5 overall) were the fifth-place team in the OIA West. They will face Campbell, the West’s top seed, in the quarterfinal round today.
“I feel kind of relieved that we can actually move on. We got killed in the (regular season). I’m pretty happy with our girls. We came a long way,” Scanlan said. “We had a lot of losing streaks against a lot of tough people, but we came back and I’m happy to see the girls’ hard work pay off from the last, intense practices.”
It took a strong effort by Pearl City, which saw an eight-point second-half lead (39-31) disappear against the scrappy Rough Riders. Efran was a major part of the Chargers’ resilient effort with seven points and nine rebounds. Her dive-on-the-floor offensive rebound — and assist — led to a clutch, 3-point shot by Scanlan that gave Pearl City a 43-41 lead with 1:01 remaining.
Scanlan then stole an entry pass intended for Richardson, but on the other end of the court, her shot from the elbow was blocked by Richardson.
Richardson was then fouled, made the first foul shot, but missed what would have been the tying free throw with 35.2 seconds left.
With the Chargers up 43-42, Scanlan went to the foul line with 31.7 seconds left and hit both shots for a three-point lead.
Roosevelt guard Sara Williams missed an open 3, but Jourdan Kekauoha-Viena’s 8-foot floater tumbled in, cutting Pearl City’s lead to 45-44 with 16 seconds left.
Again, Scanlan went to the free-throw line. With 11.5 seconds left, she sank both for a 47-44 edge. She changed her routine during the second free throw, shooting it quickly without her usual two bounces.
“My coach told me to miss it and, hopefully, we can get a rebound and run time. I was trying to miss,” said Scanlan, who swished the shot anyway.
Richardson, working against a double team, tried to go right but weaved back and forth and found an opening straight away from 21 feet, but her 3-point try missed at the buzzer.
The Chargers’ Kaiesha DeWeever had 10 points, but she and Aiesha DeWeever fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Roosevelt, the fourth-place team in the East, ended the season 8-9 overall. Richardson, like Scanlan, caught fire in the second half, scoring 12 points in the third quarter. For the game, Richardson shot 11-for-29 from the field and 7-for-11 from the free-throw line. The 5-foot-9 wing played all 32 minutes.
“Now that the season’s over, the work doesn’t stop. I’ll go straight into club and keep working,” Richardson said. “All you can do is keep working. One loss isn’t going to stop anything.”
Roosevelt is without a gym since construction began on the new facility. They have practiced at McKinley, Farrington, Booth Park and Noelani School.
“I knew it was going to be close, just a matter of if the shots were going to fall,” Rough Riders coach Joe Cho said. “Give them credit. They made some crucial shots at the end.”
Cho credited his players for overcoming the adversity, practicing off campus every day, playing every game on the road.
“For us it was tough. Our girls are practicing 7 o’clock, 8 o’clock at night and not getting home until 9, 10 o’clock at night. We could use it as an excuse, but hey, we came in fourth in our division. That’s pretty dang good for inconsistency of where we’re going to practice and what time we’re going to practice. We do the best we can, that’s the way it goes and we’ve got to do it for another couple years.”
