The No. 1-ranked and four-time defending state champion ‘Iolani Raiders used a balanced attack and quality depth to beat No. 2 Kamehameha 40-30 Tuesday at Kekuhaupio Gymnasium to close in on clinching an automatic state-tournament berth.
Hailey Fernandez scored 12 points and dished three assists and senior center Mele Sake hustled for four points and seven rebounds to help the Raiders (19-3 overall) improve to 5-0 with three regular-season games left in ILH play. Kamehameha (15-4 overall) dropped to 2-2 and needs more success in the next four games to have a shot at tying or surpassing ‘Iolani.
Keiki McGee came through down the stretch, sinking five of her six free-throw attempts in the final 1:05. The senior guard finished with nine points. The Raiders continue to shoot the ball fairly well away from home, even against Kamehameha’s tough man-to-man defense.
“It’s a mental thing. At one point, we said, shoot our shot,” McGee said. “If we overthink about it instead of playing our game, we start to miss, especially in these kinds of gyms where the depth perception is crazy compared to our tiny, little ‘Iolani gym.”
Kamehameha center Nihoa Dunn was limited to two points in the first half, hitting two free throws. She was 0-for-2 from the field before intermission, but scored nine points in the second half to finish with 11 points and seven boards. For Raiders coach Dean Young, it still comes down to defense.
“They’ve been called Dobermans by one of our faculty members in a very affectionate way,” Young said. “I like our help defense tonight. We can’t stop Nihoa all night. We’ve got to send people from the back side, the front side. We’ve got to help on the lobs. We really have to play team defense. On the pick-and-roll, we did a good job, and closing out when they kicked it out. Defensively, I’m really happy.”
Kamehameha played well in many phases but shot 3-for-21 from the field (14%) in the first half against ‘Iolani’s rugged man-to-man defense. ‘Iolani led 16-8 at the break. Kamehameha also committed 16 turnovers to ‘Iolani’s eight.
“I felt like we executed our defensive game plan. We had a couple of missed assignments on 3-point shots, but that’s going to happen. Offensively, we’ll go back and watch some film again as we did the first time. We got a decent amount of good shots. We missed a bunch of layups and we did have a good amount of wide-open 3-pointers we didn’t knock down,” Warriors coach Pua Straight said. “They kind of forced us out of our level of comfort a fair amount. That has something to do with even missing good looks.”
The Warriors shot better after the break, 8-for-21 from the field (38%). For the game, they were 11-for-42 (26%), while ‘Iolani was 11-for-29 (38%).
It was a grueling defensive battle despite a fast tempo. Fernandez splashed a 3 and fed Mia Frye for another. After a fast-break elbow jumper by Fernandez, the Raiders led 16-8 going into the half.
McGee’s 3 opened the lead to 11 points early in the third quarter. After Justice Kekauoha drove uncontested for a layup, ‘Iolani had its biggest lead, 24-11,
The Warriors scored the next five points and cut the lead to 24-16, but Frye swished another 3 and Fernandez found McGee on a drive-and-dish layup before the buzzer. ‘Iolani led 29-17 after three quarters.
Kamehameha got within 33-25 on Dunn’s bucket in the paint with 1:15 left but got no closer the rest of the way. McGee sank five of her six foul shots in the final 1:05 to seal the win.
In their previous matchup at ‘Iolani on Jan. 5, the Raiders won 54-45.
‘Iolani hosts Punahou on Thursday at 5 p.m. and Kamehameha on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Next week, Kamehameha has games with Punahou and ‘Iolani at home.
