Prep Beat

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Friday, May 16, 1997

Kalaheo, McKinley meet for OIAtitle

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

Maybe you can't have your cake and eat it, too, but Steph Redman is sure going to try. The junior point guard for Kalaheo celebrated her 17th birthday last night by leading the Mustangs to a 53-43 semifinal win over Campbell in the OIA girls basketball tournament at Blaisdell Arena.

Now Redman and Kalaheo go for the icing with a rematch against the only OIA team to beat them this season - the McKinley Tigers. The East rivals battle it out for the OIA's top seed in next week's state tournament at 7:30 tonight at Blaisdell.

The Tigers, seeking their third straight OIA title, wore down Waipahu, 41-24, in last night's first semifinal. The Marauders face the Sabers in the 6 p.m. third-place game.

All four OIA teams have qualified for the state tournament and are playing for seeding. Kalaheo is also playing for pride.

"All season, we wanted to get back at McKinley," said Redman, who scored eight of her 14 points in the deciding third quarter. "They beat us the first game of the season like by 20 points. We haven't lost since then and we're looking forward to playing them again.

"They have a bigger team than us but if we play under control, play hard, play together, we can do it."

McKinley ran out to a 13-2 first-quarter lead in winning the season opener, 49-28, on April 2. Va'e Tipoti scored 18 points then and "we're going to have to push her away from the bucket and have our guards help out down low," said Mustangs coach Chico Furtado. "We don't have the size to match McKinley. The last time we zoned them, they just threw it over the top.

"We'll pressure them and put their guards to the test. We'll play the same way that got us to this point. If it's not good enough, then it's not good enough. But I think we're a different team than when we last saw them."

Campbell's Jeana Marie Fisher led all scorers with 19 points last night while Sanoi Sao finished with 16.

Also in double figures for Kalaheo was Kim Taylor with 16 and Jenn Conner with 11.

Kalaheo    9 14 18 12-53

Campbell    4 18   8 13-43

Kalaheo: Taylor 16, Redman 14, Conner 11, Trexler 3, Mellinger 3, Afualo 2, Spencer 2, Marks 1, Funke 1, Richards 0, Reising 0, Kemp 0.

Campbell: Fisher 19, Sao 16, McChesney 4, Pico 2, Domingo 2, Burkett 0, B. Halmos 0, Curran 0, Baldwin 0.

McKinley 41, Waipahu 24: The Tigers broke open a close contest with an 18-9 run in the fourth quarter. McKinley hit eight of 13 free throws in the final 102 seconds to seal the win.

"It was a good win against a very physical team," said Tigers coach Jessie Victorino. "We knew they'd be stronger than us down low so we decided to take away their outside shooting. We sat back in a zone and challenged them. I guess it worked."

McKinley's press led to two critical turnovers that the Tigers converted into layups by freshman guard Amber Ehia. She and Marjorie Nepo combined for eight of McKinley's nine third-quarter points.

Ehia finished with a game-high 15 and Tipoti added 10. Lani Gatoloai was the only Marauder in double figures with 13.

Waipahu   9 2 4 9-24

McKinley  7 7 9 18-41

Waipahu: Gatoloai 13, Meana 4, Tuifao 4, Orpilla 1, Saau 1, Uele 1, Poto 0, Hales 0, Houghton 0.

McKinley: Ehia 15, Tipoti 10, M. Nepo 6, Gago 4, Ota 4, Ishiki 2, Cummings 0, Towai 0, Sumimoto 0, Yang 0, K. Nepo 0, Hicks 0, Flores 0, Lino 0, Togia 0.