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Monday, May 22, 2000
Kamehameha girls
By Al Chase
defend title
Star-BulletinThe Kamehameha Warriors never allowed defense of their 1999 Hawaii High School Athletic Association state girls' basketball crown be a concern until they were ready to win a second title.
"We basically tried to look at it as getting better each game at a time and hopefully we would be successful," said Kealani Kimball, one of three senior captains.
"We tried to relieve the pressure of defending the state championship by being successful."
"The entire season we weren't looking at defending anything. Only tonight were we defending something," said point guard Raylene Self, also a captain and the Warriors' top scorer with 18 points.
The top-seeded and undefeated Warriors had the right formula all season and added a new wrinkle Saturday night.
Success followed with a 37-28 victory over No. 2 Kalaheo in a title game marked by defense.
It was the Warriors' seventh championship in the 24-year history of the tournament and extended their overall, two-year winning streak to 29 games.
With Brandy Richardson scoring 13 points, the Mustangs took a 19-16 halftime lead.
They doubled the margin to six points, 24-18, in the first two minutes of the third quarter.
For the next four minutes and 17 seconds, defense reigned on the court. A free throw by Kamehameha's Katannya Kapeli was the only ball to caress the nets.
Then the momentum changed. Kimball got loose a second time for an easy layup off an inbound play and Self nailed two three-pointers to put the Warriors up, 27-24, entering the final quarter.
"We wanted to get the ball into the post to get Brandy in foul trouble at that point," Self said.
"But, if they weren't going to come out, there was no restrictions on us, no set plays for us. It was basically what's open, hit it."
After Richardson missed a jumper to start the fourth quarter, Kamehameha head coach Clay Cockett called for the stall. Self stood just inside the half-court line holding the ball until a television timeout was called 3:57 later.
"All year we haven't had to hold the ball, but we felt in this game we might have to," Cockett said.
"The way the game was going and with us struggling to play offense, once we got the lead, we had to shorten the game."
The Mustangs, in a 3-2 zone defense, chose to stand still with the Warriors.
"I just didn't think chasing around an athletic team like Kamehameha was to our advantage," said Kalaheo head coach Chico Furtado.
When the Mustangs did decide to challenge, they didn't make their shots, didn't take advantage of the Warriors missing the front end of one-and-one situations and ended up going scoreless for 13 minutes, 14 seconds.
Sharon Wahinekapu's running one-hander broke the spell with 1:20 left. But Kimball scored on a put back and the Warriors hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch.
Kamehameha's championship is the 21st by an Interscholastic League of Honolulu entry.
Punahou defeated Mid-Pacific, 48-38, for third place behind Milia Macfarlane's 24 points.
