Tuesday, May 8, 2001
St. Francis' Tony Tyler was only partially joking when he said "we live for another day." St. Francis
By Grace Wen
survives MPI
Star-BulletinTyler's Troubadours barely squeaked by Mid-Pacific in the opening night of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu tournament, 51-48, last night at McCabe Gym.
St. Francis enters the main draw of the single-elimination ILH tournament for the second berth into the state tournament.
Despite playing with a facemask to protect a broken nose suffered last Monday in practice, Elizabeth Narkon led St. Francis with 17 points, including five in the fourth quarter, to overcome a nine-point MPI lead at halftime.
But the much smaller Owls gave the Troubadours problems in the first half with their full-court press.
Tyler said before the game that St. Francis would be in good shape if the Troubadours could get the ball to top scorers Jamila Jarmon and Narkon. The problem was that they couldn't get the ball inside, with the Owls double- and triple-teaming Narkon, and Jarmon sitting on the bench after picking up two fouls in the first quarter.
Mid-Pacific capitalized by forcing the Troubadours to take numerous outside shots, while MPI guards Kim Hee and Kelli Kajiwara buried their shots.
"We hung in there," Tyler said. "I told them at halftime there's no tomorrow, so don't save anything."
The Troubadours, who won the Division II title, trailed the entire game until senior Deeann Nahale drained a 3-pointer with 6:15 left to play to take a 41-40 lead. But MPI sophomore Shannon Nishi shot a turn-around jumper to give MPI a one-point lead.
St. Francis answered with three straight baskets, but Nishi dropped in a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left and kept the game interesting, until free throws by Narkon and Chelsey Correa sealed the win.
"We got a little tired, we kind of got out of our game plan," MPI coach Darin Lee said.
St. Francis faces Sacred Hearts in the next round tomorrow.
St. Francis 8 12 16 15 -- 51 Mid-Pacific 17 12 10 9 -- 48 St. Francis: Donna Echalas 0, Christy Vause 0, Sydney Coelho 0, Adrianne Pereira 10, DeeAnn Nahale 3, Melanie Erice 0, Ashley Fernandez 5, Lauren Upadhyaya 2, Chelsey Correa 1, Heidi Rogers 4, Elizabeth Narkon 17, Jamila Jarmon 9, Paea Williams 0, Melissa Novikoff 0.
Mid-Pacific: Kelli Kajiwara 10, Rosella Leonhardt 0, Kristy Minamishin 4, Stacie Shimabukuro 0, Kimberly Hee 8, Shannon Nishi 7, Kristen Tamashiro 0, Kristen Young 0, Stephanie Toshi 0, Valerie Aficial 2, Caroline Beddow 17, Stephanie Kawatomari 0.
3-point goals--St. Francis: 4 (Pereira 3, Nahale). Mid-Pacific: 5 (Hee 2, Kajiwara 2, Nishi).