Punahou players celebrate after a 2OT thriller against Iolani Evan Asato | SL

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MAKIKI – Defending state champion Punahou (9-3) outlasted Iolani in double overtime, 51-47 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's postseason tournament final at the Hemmeter Fieldhouse Tuesday evening.

The win punches fifth-ranked Punahou's ticket into the 12-team Division I state tournament that begins next Tuesday. The Buffanblu will challenge Maryknoll (10-1), the ILH regular-season champion, for the league's overall title and seeded berth Thursday. 

Iolani, ranked No. 8 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Girls Basketball Power Rankings, saw its season end with a 7-6 mark.

"They pulled together," Punahou coach Kevin Velasco said on his team's efforts. "We played a hell of a Iolani team tonight. They're scrappy. They came off a great win over Maryknoll and they were ready to play. We really had to settle down on defense and offense.

"Our kids found a way to do it tonight (in) double overtime. Hats off to the kids because they worked hard all week to get to this point. Now we have another opportunity to move on."

The Buffanblu saw four players score in double figures in the victory. Junior center Tyra Moe led the way with 17 points, which tied a season-high. Vae Malufau and Kamaile Kandiah each scored 11 points and Elle Uyeda added 10 more.

Punahou had the advantage in the first half, leading by as many as eight points. The Buffanblu led 20-16 at the break.

The third quarter was different. Iolani equaled their first half scoring output in the third quarter alone and outscored Punahou 16-6. The Raiders led by as many as nine points in the period.

Kandiah's triple at the third quarter buzzer made the score 32-26 heading into the fourth.

"We just got a little out of sync. The combination we had just didn't fit, so we had to go back and look for the combination," Velasco said on the third quarter drought."

Punahou was able to get back into the game thanks to the efforts of Moe, the reigning ILH player of the year. She scored 11 of her game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter and first overtime period. 

"I think the thing about Tyra is that (although) she's not a vocal team leader, she does the little things when it counts. I think her understanding last year and what she had to do, helps her this year to do it in a silent way," Velasco said on Moe.

"She's huge, she's huge. I can't explain what she brings to the team. You may not see a lot of the things that she does, like rush (opposing players') shots on defense, but she's huge for us. I'm just so thankful to have a young lady like that."

Leading Iolani in the loss was sophomore guard Cami Aguinaldo who had nine points. Aguinaldo had the buzzer-beating layup to send the game into the first overtime period, and also had the game-tying triple to go into double overtime. 

Tip-off between the Buffanblu and the Spartans will be at 6 p.m. at the Clarence T.C. Ching Gymnasium.

Although Punahou lost both of its regular season meetings with Maryknoll, Kandiah was unavailable in those games due to a meniscus injury that kept her out of six games.

"We're just going to play the same way we can. Kamaile is still a little rusty (and) a little tired, but she fought through the last two games and she played really well. With her the chemistry changes a lot and we have more confidence," Velasco said.