Vae Malufau looks to block Kamehameha's Rylee-Ann Kauahikaua as she goes up for a shot Saturday night. Tyler Guieb | SL

×

020115_TKG_4825.jpg - Tyler Guieb | SL

Purchase this image
4x5 5x7 8x10 image download

MAKIKI – Vae Malufau scored a game-high 11 points and grabbed eight boards to help Punahou defeat Kamehameha, 39-23 in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu semifinal game at the Hemmeter Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon.

The Buffanblu (8-3), ranked sixth in the ScoringLive/OC16 Girls Basketball Power Rankings, advances to play No. 9 Iolani (7-5) in the league's postseason finale next Tuesday. The winner of that game will clinch the second and final league berth into the Division I state tournament.

Seventh-ranked Kamehameha saw its season end at 7-5.

After going 8-for-32 from the field through the first three quarters of play, Punahou caught fire in the fourth quarter (5-for-7) to outscore Kamehameha, 17-3.

"At halftime our coaches said we weren't playing our game. We just had to work inside and out, and the guards executed," Malufau said on the team's fourth quarter performance. 

Punahou was also able to get point guard Kamaile Kandiah back from an injury (meniscus) that kept her out of the last six regular season games. She added eight points and a game-high four steals off the bench. 

"Kamaile brings a sense of calmness (to the team), in the sense that she can handle the ball (and) Elle (Uyeda) can move to the shooting guard so that helps that way," said Punahou coach Kevin Velasco. 

Center Tyra Moe added eight points and eight rebounds while facing double teams for most of the night. Uyeda added six points, all of which came from the free throw line, and had a game-high three assists. 

While Punahou was able to get things going late, Kamehameha struggled to find the bottom of the net for the entire duration of the game. The Warriors was 8-for-39 from the field and 4-for-10 at the free throw line. 

"The game that we lost was we didn't make our free throws and we didn't make shots. We had the shots, we had the free throws, and we didn't make them. If we had done that, it would have been a different story," said first-year Kamehameha coach Joe Cho.

Punahou's frontcourt tandem of Malufau and Moe really put a bind on the Kamehameha defense. The Warriors were outscored 18-8 in the paint and ended up committing 17 fouls, as opposed to Punahou's five. This allowed Punahou to shoot twice as many free throws than Kamehameha.

"They're always going to hurt you, that's their game. We just tried to neutralize them the best we can," Cho said on Malufau and Moe.

Leading Kamehameha in the loss was Jewel Paaluhi-Caulk who had six points on two made 3-pointers.

The first three quarters of play was a back-and-forth battle with neither team leading by more than three points. Kamehameha had the advantage early and held a 9-8 lead after the opening period.

Punahou's first lead of the game came on Kandiah's fast break pass to Moe with under six minutes to play in the second. The lead would exchange hands four more times before the end of the first half, which ended on a Moe basket before the buzzer. This gave Punahou a 16-15 lead at the break.

Kamehameha fought back in the third quarter and tied things twice at 18-18 and 20-20. Uyeda's two free throws at the 3:11 mark would be the final points of the quarter, giving Punahou a 22-20 lead heading into the final period of play.

Tip-off between Punahou and Iolani will precede the boys basketball game on Feb 3. The winner between the two teams will face Maryknoll, the league's regular season champion, for the league's seeded berth and first round bye in the state tournament.