Haikela Hiraishi (5) led Konawaena with 15 points and nailed four triples as the Wildcats remain unbeaten in the Punahou Paani Basketball Invitational. Brandon Ching

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Brandon Ching

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Fri, Dec 1, 2023 @ Punahou

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Campbell

27

Konawaena

40

Final	1	2	3	4
Campbell (12-1, 19-7)	8	10	6	3	27
Konawaena (13-1, 21-4)	16	5	7	12	40

H. Hiraishi 15 pts  4 3pm  3/4 FTs

A. Bantolina 13 pts  3/4 FTs

Haikela Hiraishi and Tavina Harris combined for 25 points to help Konawaena pull away from Campbell, 40-27 on the third day of the Punahou Paani Basketball Invitational at Hemmeter Fieldhouse Friday.

Hiraishi poured in a game-high 15 points and knocked down four 3-pointers and Harris added 10 points as the Wildcats (6-2 overall) won their third-straight game.

Konawaena held a 28-24 lead entering the final period. Harris hit a turnaround in the paint and Hiraishi followed up with two 3-pointers, one from the top of the arc and the other from the right corner to spark a 8-0 opening run.

"It felt pretty good. We talked about it as a team that our bigs are posting inside pretty hard. If we hit them, we know if the defense will collapse on them, they can have open looks coming out or take it. It was really good teamwork in the fourth quarter that we used," Hiraishi said.

Aliyah Bantolina scored a team-high 13 points for the Sabers (3-1 overall) in the loss and prevented a fourth quarter shut out by hitting 3 of her four free throw attempts in the final period.

Harris cleaned up Hiraishi's miss and Angelie Molina scored in transition for the Wildcats' final points to outscore the Sabers, 12 to 3.

"It's really good, we're a small team. It's good to have another person to hit inside and give us other looks," Hiraishi said of Harris.

"On defense my job is to contest shots and grab every board. That's my job on defense to make them think twice so they miss," Harris said.

Harris averaged 11.7 points per game as a junior with the Lunas. She transferred from Lahainaluna to Konawaena before the devastating wildfires hit Lahaina on Aug. 8.

"I have a lot of friends and people I consider family in Lahaina that lost everything. For me, right now I'm playing for them. I didn't forget anybody there, they did so much for me and they helped me a lot. I want to do this for them and my family as well. I love Lahaina," Harris said.

The Wildcats welcomed their big addition, literally, to their team and made it a seamless transition for her senior year.

"This team, we work super hard everyday. I have a lot of faith in them and they're really talented. They share the ball very well. It's really nice. I knew Auntie Bobbi before so me having that relationship with her is definitely a plus. The girls are super welcoming and it wasn't hard for us to click," Harris said.

Konawaena built on a 16-8 after the first quarter and led by as much as 11 after Hiraishi split a pair of free throws. The Wildcats hit a cold spell from the field as the Sabers caught fire to finish out the half on a 8-0 run. Taysia Molina-Schulte hit a pair of free throws and Bantolina went glass and followed up with a drive to the rim. Tehani Docktor, a transfer from Leilehua, rolled to the basket for two as Campbell trailed, 21-18 at halftime.

"We knew we had to communicate with each other, talk over the screens. It's like practice, we play against each other and set screens against each other. We needed to be more vocal today and they're an aggressive team," Hiraishi said of Campbell.

Docktor converted an assist from Cayden Parado to trail by one. Hiraishi extended the lead back to three from free throws. Bantolina attacked with back-to-back buckets for the Sabers to give them the lead momentarily with 2:15 to go.

Hiraishi answered with a triple in the corner and Harris added a putback before the buzzer for a four-point lead going into the fourth.

The Wildcats face San Juan Hills (San Juan Capistrano, California) tomorrow at 8:30 am while the Sabers play Sierra Pacific (Hanford, California) at 11:30 am on the final day of the Invitational.