Guard Grace Pham scored 12 points and center Kailey Reverio had 10 points and 12 rebounds as McKinley outlasted Farrington, 41-33, to capture the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II girls basketball championship on Wednesday night at Pearl City High School gym.

Point guard Ayva Walthall added eight points and two blocks, and Haley Hosino tallied seven points and two steals as McKinley won the league title for the first time since 2008. The school now has seven OIA crowns in girls basketball, including three in D-II.

“Everything about this team surprises me. I don’t even know how we pulled this one out,” McKinley coach Donald Kamai said. “They’re survivors.”

Kamai noted that only four of his players play basketball year-round, but the core played with supreme chemistry under duress. Pham connected on three crucial 3-pointers during McKinley’s big run in the second quarter.

“I wasn’t nervous. I focus on the rim and that’s my job as a shooter. I’m glad my team was able to pull it off. We fell short last year, but we came back stronger this year,” Pham said. “I think coach is really proud that we came back strong. We learned our lesson from last year. Hopefully, it puts us out on the map.”

Hunter Garcia led Farrington with 14 points and added five rebounds. Kamryn Felipe scored all seven of her points in the final quarter to help the Lady Governors cut the lead down to seven points, but they got no closer. Shayniah Cabato-Machado chipped in six points, while Andreah Mamaia hustled for seven rebounds and Genesis Olsen-Silva hauled in six boards.

McKinley (10-11) overall was 5-6 during the regular season in the OIA’s blended schedule of D-I and D-II teams. The Tigers then ousted Aiea, 46-23, and edged the West’s top seed, Kapolei, 40-37, to reach the final.

Farrington came into the playoffs as the higher seed, but lost to McKinley during the regular season, 41-37. Coach Carolina Tatupu’s Farrington squad was 6-5 in the OIA East.

A raucous, polite gathering of Tiger and Governor fans saw Farrington go ice-cold from the field in the first half. Despite missing all 32 of their first-half field-goal attempts, Farrington cut the lead to nine points in the third quarter as McKinley struggled at times against fullcourt pressure.

The pace was relatively slow early on. The first seven points of the game were on free throws. When Hosino connected for her only trey of the first half, McKinley had a 6-5 lead. The Tigers added three foul shots for a 9-5 lead entering the second quarter.

Pham caught fire. The zone buster shot 3-for-3 from the arc as McKinley built its lead. The cold-shooting Lady Governors had plenty of open looks against the Tigers’ 2-3 matchup zone, but wound up missing every field-goal attempt in the first half.

Meanwhile, Althea Esmas’ putback capped a 21-1 run.

Farrington’s shooting drought didn’t apply to the foul line, where the Govs were 7-for-10. Even before the game, they spent 45 minutes on shooting drills.

Garcia got the Govs going in the third quarter. She scored on a fast break bucket, then added three more points as Farrington opened the third with 7-0 run, cutting the lead to 24-15.

Using fullcourt pressure, the Govs rattled McKinley, which went cold from the field and and committed 12 turnovers in the third quarter. The Tigers recovered after Kamai called two time outs, breaking the press to extend the lead to 32-20 going into the final quarter.

Farrington brought the lead down to 34-25 after a 3 by Kamryn Felipe, but McKinley answered with a scoop shot by Pham and a foul-line jumper by Walthall.

McKinley faced a monumental challenge when Walthall picked up her fifth foul and was disqualified with 4:04 remaining. Farrington’s press led to buckets by Ciara Chaffin and Felipe to pull within 40-33 with 45 seconds left, but the Governors got no closer the rest of the way.

McKinley and Farrington had already qualified for the upcoming Heide &Cook/ HHSAA Girls Basketball State Championships.