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Prep Beat

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Saturday, May 13, 2000

Mid-Pacific gains
state tourney berth

By Dave Reardon
Star-Bulletin

Leading scorer Jade Savusa wears a brace on each knee. Point guard Shannon Nishi is better known for her martial arts exploits.

And Ashley Watamura may be the most underrated player in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, if not the state of Hawaii.

But the Mid-Pacific Owls' basketball team gained a lot of respect -- as well as their first state tournament berth since 1993 -- with a 71-54 runaway victory over Iolani last night at McCabe Gym.

MPI struggled through the regular season with a 6-6 mark, but the Owls never lost confidence.

"Sometimes we didn't come to play. We didn't always realize that every day meant something," Watamura said. "But we stayed together as a team."

Last night, though, Watamura came up huge. She scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Savusa added 22 points and 19 rebounds, as the Owls (8-6) controlled the boards, 38-16.

"We've been working on rebounding," Watamura said. "That's the most important thing."

Iolani (9-6), which beat Mid-Pacific twice in the regular season, led 19-10 with 6:25 left before halftime, as Trisha Nishimoto scored 10 of her 25 points in the first quarter.

But Savusa scored 11 of the Owls' next 16 points to cut the Raiders' lead to two, 29-27, at halftime.

MPI broke away in the second half, as Watamura scored 22 of her points.

The Owls built the lead to 50-39 with 5:46 left, but the Raiders battled back to 50-44 on Nishimoto's layup off a steal.

The Owls made 17-of-20 free throws the rest of the way, with Watamura making 9-of-12 in addition to two shots from the field.

Watamura was 10-of-14 from both the field and the line.

"They did a really nice job," Iolani assistant coach Mark Mugiishi said. "In the past we rattled them with our pressing defense, but not this time."

Iolani's explosive guard Monica Tokoro scored 11 points, but she was matched by Nishi, who also had five assists and three steals.

"It was all about heart. We really wanted it. Ashley did a great job," Nishi said.

Mid-Pacific coach Darin Lee said the Owls were better than their record.

"We had six losses, and they were all to Iolani, Punahou and Kamehameha, the three top 10 teams in the toughest league in the state," he said. "We just needed to try our best and keep working hard. It's nice to see things finally coming together."

Iolani	14	15	8	17 - 54
Mid-Pacific	10	17	21	23 - 71

IOLANI: Trisha Nishimoto 25, Kacy Nekoba 0, Monica Tokoro 11, Kari Hayashi 2, Noelle Izumi 0, Fabriann Gin 0, Keri Tomomitsu 6, Chris Demetropolis 0, Elyssa Street 8, Mitzi Ing 2

MID-PACIFIC: Kristi Hamada 0, Jean Kasamoto 0, Rosella Leonhardt 0, Kristy Minamisin 0, Erika Sayson 2, Shannon Nishi 11, Kristen Tamashiro 0, Ashley Watamura 30, Stephanie Toshi 2, Christina Hee 4, Caroline Beddow 0, Jade Savusa 22.

3-point goals: Iolani 6 (Nishimoto 5, Tokoro 1) Mid-Pacific 1 (Nishi)

Water polo upsets:

Upsets were the theme at the ILH girls' water polo tournament.

Second-seeded Iolani knocked off top-ranked Punahou, 7-2, in the championship game. For third place, Pac-Five beat Kamehameha, 9-5, in overtime.

Punahou, the league's regular season champion, and Iolani play for the overall ILH crown Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Kamehameha.

CORRECTION:

Punahou's Derek Turbin placed sixth in the triple jump at the Island Movers State Track and Field trials Thursday, with a mark of 43 feet. Another athlete's name was listed.

Also, the girls' 400-meter finalists were inadvertently omitted. The eight finalists are listed below.

1. Lauran Dignam, Iolani, 59.23. 2. Carly Killam, Punahou, 1:00.74. 3. Anna Berger, St. Francis, 1:01.20. 4. Michelle Murphy, Mililani, 1:01.21. 5. Adrian Buesa, St. Anthony, 1:02.67. 6. Elyse Wong, Punahou, 1:02.72. 7. Jasmine Norman, Kealakehe, 1:02.55. 8. Aimee Cama, Hilo, 1:02.55.

Kauai High doubles
team scores two upsets at
state tennis tourney

Star-Bulletin staff

Looking for an upset?

The Carlsmith Ball State Tennis Championships at Waikoloa on the Big Island isn't the place to go.

The top four seeds in three of the four divisions have advanced to today's semifinals.

The only upsets occurred in girls' doubles where the 10th seeded team of Kareen Konishi and Tiana Lum-Tucker of Kauai High School beat the second and fifth seeds in yesterday's third and fourth rounds.

The finals will also be held today.

Mililani's Erin Hoe, Iolani's Tracie Chong and Noelle Lee, and Hawaii Preparatory Academy's Jackie Hagen advanced to the girls' singles semifinals.

Kauai's Bradlee Lum-Tucker, Punahou's Bucky Jencks, Kaiser's Michael Wojnarowicz, and Farrington's Anthony Ilagen made it to the boys' singles semifinals.

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Waiakea whizzes to
state golf title

Star-Bulletin staff

Waiakea's Ryan Masuda fired a 3-under-par 69 to edge teammate Gabriel Wilson by one shot for the David Ishii Boys State Golf Championships individual title at the Kauai Lagoons Mokihana Golf Course on Kauai yesterday.

Waiakea also won the team title by seven strokes over Kamehameha. Kauai High School finished in third place.

Masuda finished the tourney with a 3-under 141.

First-round leader Juston Thomas of Kapaa shot a 78 yesterday to finish in ninth place out of 118 golfers.

Baldwin's Garrett Okamura (third), Seabury Hall's Takeshi Mitsuhashi (fourth), Pearl City's Grant Yasui (fifth) and Blaine Lee (eighth), St. Anthony's Chaz Inouye (sixth), Kauai High's Kurt Inouye (seventh), and Kamehameha's Christian Akau (10th) also finished in the top 10.

In order, Baldwin, Pearl City, St. Anthony's, Hilo, Iolani, Kahuku and Hawaii Baptist finished fourth through 10th in the team standings.