Senior guard Kylie Awakuni made three free throws in the final 10.2 seconds as Kalani fought off Radford 44-40 to advance into the quarterfinal round of the OIA Division I girls basketball playoffs.
“I’m really glad that our team was able to stick it through,” Awakuni said. “We handled the pressure well and we were able to keep our composure. We were able to hit it when it counted. Radford is a very physical team. Props to them on a good season.”
Junior Alina Stephenson led Kalani (15-5 overall) with 16 points before fouling out with 5:11 remaining. Freshman Angel Stephenson tallied 13 points. Senior Raine Chinen made just two shots in the game, but both were clutch 3-pointers in the final 98 seconds.
The home crowd cringed when Alina Stephenson left the game after committing her fifth foul with 5:11 left and Kalani trailing 31-30.
“I tried talking to her about not fouling out, but there’s only so much you can do,” Angel Stephenson said. “Not everything is going to go your way. I knew after she fouled out I had to step up for our team because we all worked very hard to get here.”
Alina Stephenson cheered on her teammates the best she could in those final minutes.
“It crushed my heart. I was really scared because it was just a point difference,” Alina Stephenson said. “I’m really proud of my sister and my whole team for stepping up.”
The Lady Falcons struggled with foul trouble and sometimes sloppy execution against Radford’s rugged full-court press. After blowing a 12-point lead, Kalani got key plays down the stretch from starters and reserves.
Radford was down five points with 1:38 remaining, but pulled within 41-40 when Shanntay Stroman hit a corner 3 with 39 seconds to go.
Radford opted not to foul, and an errant pass by Hasina Robinson was nearly stolen at the top of the key. The Rams wound up fouling Awakuni with 10.2 seconds left. She made the first shot for a 42-40 lead, then missed the second. In the wild scramble for the ball, Angel Stephenson jumped high and saved the ball in mid-air before crashing into the Kalani bench. Awakuni was fouled with 4.1 seconds remaining. She made both charity shots to ice the win.
With steady senior guards and the Stephenson sisters in house, the Falcons tested their mettle with a tough preseason schedule that included two Top 10 teams, Hawaii Baptist and Maryknoll, in mid-November. Coach Tyler Tsukazaki’s program has been a steady work in progress.
“We’re going up. We started off slow about three years ago, building our program up,” Alina Stephenson said. “I definitely think we’re going to be somewhere soon.”
Kalani will play at Mililani, the top seed in the West, at 6 p.m. today.
“It’s going to be a game. As long as all of us step up, I think we can do it,” Alina Stephenson said. “We’re going to give it all we can. We really want to go far.”
The winner will advance to the semifinal round, while the loser enters consolation play with one of the OIA’s six D-I state-tournament berths on the line.
Radford’s season comes to a close. The Rams (12-8 overall) trailed by 12 points and missed six free throws in a row in the second half, yet had a chance to win the game.
Stroman, a junior guard, led Radford with 22 points, including nine in the final quarter. Coryn Doss was a key contributor in the paint and finished with 11 points, but she was 1-for-8 from the free-throw line.
“From the beginning of the season, we lost three seniors who knew how to play and could put the ball in the hoop. Then we lost one returning senior to injury in the summer. This has been a learning year with a lot of juniors. They went down tonight and came back,” Radford coach Charles Chong said. “The little lessons, the free throws, the close-in stuff, we’ve got work to do. The offseason begins now.”
Radford entered the playoffs as the fifth-place team from the West. Kalani is the fourth-place team in the East.
Kalani last won the OIA D-I title in 2018 under Chi Mok. Before that, George Weeks guided the Falcons to the ’08 crown. Kalani also won OIA D-II crowns in ’17, ’06 and ’05.
