Friday, May 11, 2001
[ PREP BASKETBALL ]
Kamehameha, If the Iolani girls basketball team was supposed to be rusty last night, the Raiders certainly didn't look it.
Iolani in ILH
tourney final
The Warriors and Raiders
advance to Monday's league
title game with big winsBy Grace Wen
Star-BulletinPlaying in their first game of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu tournament, Iolani ran all over St. Francis in a 68-45 semifinal win.
The Raiders shook off the rust in their legs while St. Francis felt the lactic acid in theirs.
"The beginning was a little rusty," Iolani coach Glenn Takara said. "Once we got back into the flow of things we did a lot better job."
Iolani trailed 6-9 early in the first quarter but the Raiders exploded for 42 points in the second half, including 28 points in the third quarter. Iolani opened with a 12-2 run in the first two minutes of the third quarter to pull away from the Troubadours.
A timeout called by St. Francis didn't slow the Raiders momentum as Iolani slammed the door shut on any possibility of a St. Francis comeback with another huge run (16-8).
Guards Monica Tokoro and Trisha Nishimoto forced several turnovers and intercepted the ball numerous times to keep St. Francis from getting the ball inside.
And they both contributed to the scoring with huge second halfs. Nishimoto had 15 of her game-high 24 points while Tokoro overcame a slow start and nailed several jumpers to collect 16 points.
Though the Troubadours inside game was disrupted, St. Francis coach Tony Tyler said his team had other problems.
"It hurt us but one other difference was that we couldn't get our outside game going. Their defense was so fast, especially in the second quarter, that we couldn't get open looks. They swarmed all over our shooters.
"Our legs caught up with us. We gave it our all. We knew they were very strong with their two guards. We knew we needed to slow them down but they were really balanced and we hung with them as long as we could."
The Troubadours faced their third Division I opponent in four nights and the fatigue showed. St. Francis couldn't keep up with the quicker Iolani team that darted in between players and up and down the court.
Jamila Jarmon led the scoring for the Troubadours with 21 points, including seven free throws.
Kamehameha 68, Maryknoll 39: If scoring 68 points is considered a bad game, opponents of the Kamehameha girls basketball team should be worried.
Despite overpowering Maryknoll, Kamehameha coach Clay Cockett was disappointed with the play of his team.
"There's no doubt that we're much stronger than they were," Cockett said. "But at this point, I'm not looking at how many points we score or how many points we beat them by. It's the execution and how mentally ready we are to play a game."
Kamehameha blew out Maryknoll for the third time this season to earn a spot in Monday night's final against Iolani. Mounia Nihipali led all players with 15 points, while Tai Soo and Noelle Russell chipped in 12 a piece.
Michelle Baduira led the Spartans with 12 points.
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