Moody’s 27 carries Radford past No. 9 Kailua, 51-49


Radford's Jasmine Moody poured in a game-high 27 points and added 13 rebounds in a win over Kailua in the OIA Division I semifinals. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Jasmine Moody scored a game-high 27 points to lift Radford past Kailua, 51-49 in the night cap of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Playoff semifinals at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium. The Rams advance to play Roosevelt for the OIA Division I championship at 7 p.m.

Moody scored 17 of her 27 points in the second half and hauled in 13 rebounds.

"It was a tough battle and we wanted it so bad. We went after it and competed the whole time and we knew if we could stick together under pressure that we could do it. It was a tough, long battle, but we're so happy," said Moody, who went 11 of 16 from the field.

"I thought she stepped it up as the game went on, our guards played with a lot of poise but we need to take care of the ball. We're learning and everyone stepped up," said Radford coach Charles Chong, on Moody's performance.

Radford led 51-48 after Jazmyn Peralta hit 1 of 2 free throws with 42.4 seconds remaining. Kailua's Delcie Williams was fouled and made 1 of 2 free throws as the Surfriders trailed, 51-49 with 30.8 seconds remaining.

It was back-and-forth as the Rams turned it over with 26.8 seconds remaining. The ball bounced around and Kailua turned it over with 4.4 seconds left. Puni Seei threw a deep inbounds pass to Peralta, who ran out the clock.

"It was really tiring and we were hanging in there. We were down a couple points and knew we could do it," said Moody.

"It could've went either way, both teams playing their heart out, turnovers galore. I'm proud of these young ladies, they showed a lot of heart, we had a slow start and Kailua is a great program and coach Mandy does a great job," said Chong.

The Rams trailed for most of the game until the end of the third quarter. Moody had a block and Peralta's layup tied the game at 32. Kailua went up, 38-33 after Williams' steal and layup. Radford scored six-straight points, Moody had a putback to give the Rams their first lead, 39-38 and had another putback to give her team a 41-40 lead heading into the fourth.

"My guards look for me a lot and it was tough to get open because she (Patria) is a tough defender. They look for me to rebound, catch the ball and make shots, and I think I did a good job," said Moody.

Kailua led at halftime, 24-21.

Patria Vaimaona led Kailua with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 15 rebounds and Williams added 17 points and three steals.

The Surfriders led for most of the first half. Kailua jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first, but he Rams closed out the quarter on a 7-2 run following a timeout. The Surfriders found some rhythm on offense and went on an 8-0 run in the second to go up, 20-11. Vaimaona scored eight of her 18 in the second quarter. Radford answered with a 8-0 run of their own after a basket from Kennedy Johnson.

"I thought we were flat and weren't playing with emotion in the first half. I thought Kailua was feeling comfortable out there and so in the second half we had to bring some heart and start making them feel uncomfortable and that worked out un the end for us," said Chong.



Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].