Honokaa shows why
it’s the top seed

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

HILO -- Dayna Gambill reasserted Honokaa High's top seeding with a clutch performance last night in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Girls' Basketball Tournament .

The 5-foot-5 senior, whose hobby is weightlifting, displayed a feather-light shooting touch in the midst of a desperate situation in the third quarter against University High.

Scoring four straight 3-pointers in a span of four minutes, Gambill rallied the Dragons from a 21-12 deficit to a 26-25 advantage. She finished with 23 points (including five treys) and the unbeaten Dragons went on to rout the Junior Rainbows, 48-31.

That puts Honokaa in tonight's 7:30 semifinal matchup at Afook-Chinen Civic Center against unseeded Kalaheo, the Cinderella member of the tournament's final four. At 6 p.m., No. 2 Punahou will take on No. 3 McKinley.

Honokaa 48, University 31: The Junior Rainbows, who have five players 5-8 or taller, were outrebounding the Dragons and frustrating them defensively into a 20-percent shooting game in the first half.

''They were playing physical with us but when it gets physical, our game steps up," said Gambill.

UHS outrebounded the Dragons, 17-14, in the first half but Honokaa took a 14-6 advantage off the glass in the second half.

''We've been the physical team in this place, and it was hard for us to be the ones outmuscled for once," Honokaa head coach Daphne Honma said. ''But it was a real good experience for our players."

Gambill picked up two fouls early in the first quarter and sat for much of that period after hitting one 3-pointer. But with 2:25 gone in the third quarter, she hit a trey from just in front of the Honokaa bench to cut the UHS lead to 21-15. She hit another from the same spot 44 seconds later to narrow it to 23-18.

Gambill's third 3-pointer, with 2:43 left in the quarter, made it 25-23. Her fourth closed out third-quarter scoring and gave the Dragons a lead they'd not relinquish. Honokaa outscored University, 22-6, in the fourth quarter.

University 	12	 7	 6	 6--31
Honokaa 	6	 6	 14	 22--48

University: China 0, Burgess 0, Wilson 4, Ciacci 0, Drevno 6, Fuller 0,Vakasausau 6, Kimoto 0, Melson 6, Tabar 6, Pascua 3.

Honokaa: N. Munar 0,Gambill 23, T. Carvalho 2, A. Carvalho 0, Wusstig 0, Lindsey 0, Landis 6, Ka'ae 6, Dougher 11.

McKinley 56, Waiakea 48: Waiakea's foul problems gave Lady Tigers such as 6-2 senior Va'e Tipoti a chance to go inside and dominate in the second half.

''My coaches told me to go hard inside,'' said Tipoti, who had a game-high 20 points (11 in the second half) and dominated under the basket with 14 rebounds.

Amber Ehia shot 4-for-4 from 3-point land for 12 points and added three steals.

Waiakea 	12	 15	 7	 14--48
McKinley 	 6	 20	 16	 14--56

Waiakea: Amisone 8, Ichinotsubo 3, Pedro 3, Momohara 7, Nishizuka 9,Loa 0, Azevedo 12, Kaaiakamanu 4, Remmers 2. McKinley: Ishiki 5,Ehia 12, Gago 10, Ota 1, M. Nepo 8, Tipoti 20, Togia 0.

Kalaheo 63, Lahainaluna 48: The No. 4-seeded Lunas took a 6-0 lead against the Lady Mustangs but forward Kim Taylor hit for three 3-pointers and point guard Stephanie Redman added eight points to rally Kalaheo to an 18-12 lead after the first eight minutes.

Taylor finished with 25 points while Redman had 19 points and nine rebounds.

Kalaheo 	18	 15	 12	 18--63
Lahainaluna 	12	 16	 12	 8--48

Kalaheo: Raising 2, Trexler 8, Mellinger 0, Afualo 0, Conner 3,Iris 3, Marks 0, Redman 19, Spencer 5, Taylor 25, Sandell 1, Kemp 2.

Lahainaluna: Kenolio 4, Robia 0, Okimoto 6, Lacro 8, Kanekoa 0,Archangel 13, Aoki 3, Stallings-Alailima 7, Kohler 7.

Punahou 65, Kapaa 40: Lisa Kowal scored 11 points to keep Punahou in the game as the Buffanblu struggled with Kapaa in the first half and managed only a 27-26 lead.

Punahou's Onaona Miller scored seven of her 13 points in the third quarter as Punahou opened a 46-38 lead.

Kapaa 	15	 11	 12	 2--40
Punahou 	15	 11	 19	 19--65

Kapaa: Devitt 0, Anakalea 5, Laranio 0, Martin 6, Abalos 7, Alfiler 11, Carvalho 11.

Punahou: Arakaki 1, Usita 4, Hamlin 0,Miller 13, Durand 2, Kowal 20, Ushijima 1, Kaaihue 4, Spencer-Vasconcellos 14, Lum 0, Okumura 4, Kovach 2.

In a consolation game, Konawaena beat Campbell, 68-40.

Konawaena 	18	 20	 9	 21--68
Campbell 	12	 10	 7	 11--40

Kona: K. Shiraishi 8, Kanno 2, Southerland 14, Ota 4, Kawakami 3, Otaguro 0, Grace 2, Benton 4, Lee 15, N. Shiraishi 0, Chu 14,Pacheco 0, Gaspar 2. Campbell: Pico 2, Sao 13, J. Halmos 0,Domingo 2, B. Halmos 2, Curran 0, McChesney 2, Fisher 19, Baldwin 0.