To no surprise, four-time defending state champion ‘Iolani is the top seed of the Heide & Cook/HHSAA Girls Basketball Division I State Championships bracket released on Thursday.
The Raiders are seeded No. 1 for the fifth state tournament in a row, and for all five of those, the Big Island champion has been seeded second. This season, as it was for three of the previous four, that team is Konawaena.
For the first time since 2020, the third seed is the OIA champion (Kahuku) rather than Maui titlist Lahainaluna, which is the fourth seed this year.
Kahuku being placed in the third slot means that OIA runner-up Campbell is on ‘Iolani’s side of the bracket. The Sabers were ranked No. 3 in the Star-Advertiser Top 10 before the league playoffs. Campbell lost to ‘Iolani 41-33 in last year’s state semifinals as the four seed — the only one of the Raiders’ three opponents to come within single digits.
With the OIA champ seeded fourth last year, the bracket had the top seed play the OIA 4-MIL 2 winner. This year, that pairing was moved over to play the second seed. Now, the OIA 2-OIA 6 game between Campbell and Mililani will provide ‘Iolani’s quarterfinal foe.
Either way, it’s a tough matchup for the Radford/Kamehameha-Maui winner. Though ‘Iolani is unbeaten against Hawaii teams this season, its closest margin of victory was against Konawaena, 37-34 in a preseason tournament.
The Division II bracket will be released at the conclusion of the ongoing ILH D-II third-place tournament.
Division I Tournament schedule
Monday
Mililani at Campbell, 6 p.m.
Moanalua at Waiakea, 4 p.m.
Radford at Kamehameha-Maui, 4 p.m.
Kailua at Kamehameha, 6 p.m.
Wednesday
Quarterfinals
McKinley bracket
‘Iolani vs. Campbell-Mililani winner, 5 p.m.
Lahainaluna vs. Waiakea-Moa. winner, 7 p.m.
Moanalua bracket
Konawaena vs. Kamehameha-Maui/Rad. winner, 5 p.m.
Kahuku vs. Kamehameha-Kailua winner, 7 p.m.
Thursday
Semifinals at McKinley, 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.
Consolation semifinals at Moanalua, 5 and 7 p.m.
Feb. 9
At Blaisdell Arena
Championship game, 7 p.m.
Third-place game, 1 p.m.
Fifth-place game, 9 a.m.
