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Saturday, May 6, 2000
Buffanblu girls
By Pat bigold
clinch berth in
state tournament
Star-BulletinPunahou dominated the inside with a distinct front-court height advantage and cruised to a 36-25 victory over Iolani last night at Mid-Pacific Gym that guaranteed the Buffanblu girls a state tournament berth.
Unbeaten and top-ranked Kamehameha (12-0) had earlier locked up the first of three Interscholastic League of Honolulu berths in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association tournament May 17-20 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Punahou (9-4) clinched second place in the ILH and the third berth will be determined in playoffs that begin Tuesday at McCabe Gym.
Junior point guard Milia Macfarlane led the Buffanblu with 12 points, including two 3-pointers, while 5-foot-11 freshman forward-center Becky Hogue scored nine and led everyone off the glass with 13 rebounds.
"Every year she (Macfarlane) gets more mature and better,'' said Raiders head coach Bernie Ching.
Macfarlane's deft ballhandling and quickness broke the Iolani press in the second half.
"She gets a lot of help from her teammates but she does handle the ball really well for us and is a major threat on offense," said Punahou head coach Shelley Fey.
Punahou trailed 4-3 with 3:31 left in the first quarter when Hogue scored her second bucket of the period to give the Buffanblu the lead for good.
The Raiders were shut out in the second quarter, 6-0, and Punahou took an 11-4 lead into the locker room.
Neither team shot well in the half as Punahou made only four of 14 from the floor and Iolani made two of 12.
Iolani didn't score again until Punahou had a 16-4 lead and Raiders guard Monica Tokoro made a layup with 4:54 left in the third quarter.
Tokoro caught fire in the second half, scoring 16 of her game-high 18 points. Two baskets were 3-pointers.
Iolani closed to within seven (29-22) with 3:04 left on a basket by Mitzi Ing.
But the Punahou guards couldn't be contained and Rebecca Lee wound up at the line with 1:24 left. She converted a pair of free throws to jack Punahou's lead back to nine.
Twenty-four seconds later Buffanblu forward Caroline Ane (six points, seven rebounds) stripped Tokoro on a drive and got the ball downcourt to Macfarlane, who was fouled and made two more free throws to seal it. Punahou won the rebounding war, 31-23.
"We just have to execute better, and we have to practice with bigger people I think," said Ching, whose team (8-5) will play Wednesday at McCabe Gym against the winner of Tuesday's game between Maryknoll and University.
Iolani 4 0 8 13-25 Punahou 5 6 10 15-36 IOLANI: Trisha Nishimoto 0, Monica Tokoro 18, Kari Hayashi 0, Noelle Izumi 0, Fabriann Gin 1, Keri Tomomitsu 2, Elyssa Street 0, Mitzi Ing 4.
PUNAHOU: Elyse Umeda 4, Rebecca Lee 5, Megan Abbott 0, Nicole Jones 0, Dana Arakawa 0, Milia Macfarlane 12, Misha Lam 0, Caroline Ane 6, Becky
Hogue 9.
3-point goals-Iolani 2 (Tokoro 2), Punahou 2 (Macfarlane 2).
