Roosevelt's Sharice Kawakami puts up a shot against Moanalua. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Roosevelt's Starr Rivera drives to the basket against Moanalua. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Moanalua's Lachae McColor puts up a shot in the paint against Moanalua. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Roosevelt's Devyn Kauhi battles with Moanalua's Cherie Bento for rebounding position. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Thu, Jan 9, 2014 @ Moanalua

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Roosevelt

59

Moanalua

51

Final	1	2	3	4
Roosevelt (24-4, 15-3)	24	10	16	9	59
Moanalua (19-10, 12-8)	8	8	19	16	51

SEASON LEADERS

LaChae McColor 17.7 ppg  12 3pm  65.7 FT%

Keala Quinlan 12.1 ppg  9 3pm  76.2 FT%

SALT LAKE — Four players scored in double figures to lead Roosevelt to a 59-51 win over Moanalua in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division game Thursday night.

Sharice Kawakami scored 14 points, Devyn Kauhi 13, Tavae Sina Sofa 11 and Starr Rivera 10 as the Rough Riders (9-0) handed Na Menehune (8-1) their first league loss and claimed sole possession of first place in the Red East in the process. A senior night crowd of about 300 spectators packed the Moanalua gym to witness the battle of unbeatens. Both teams entered the contest ranked in the ScoringLive/OC16 Girls Basketball Power Rankings: Roosevelt at No. 4, Moanalua at No. 9.

"It's a big win — the crowd was out here, but the girls were ready for the competition and the challenge," Rough Riders' coach Hinano Higa said.

Roosevelt — fueled by a 24-point first quarter — led from wire-to-wire and overcame a tough shooting night for leading scorer Keala Quinlan, who entered the game averaging 13.9 points. She shot just 2 of 9 from the field and finished with four points after being charged with two early fouls in the first quarter.

"We've been trying to work everyone in in our other games as well, just kind of preparing for if that situation ever did come," Higa said. "She got in foul trouble early and I think Devyn Kauhi stepped up big for her."

Kauhi, who came into the game as the team's fifth-highest scorer at 8.7 points per game, made six of her 10 field-goal attempts and grabbed six rebounds to go with six steals and two blocks.

"She usually plays a guard position outside running, but she crashed the boards hard and got a lot of balls inside and finished for us, so we were able to fill that void," Higa said, noting that Kauhi rotated into the post with Quinlan's struggles.

Kawakami, who was 6 of 9 from the field, scored 11 points in the first half. Sina Sofa netted 9 of her 11 in the first quarter and also recorded three assists, one steal and a block. Rivera added five rebounds, four assists and three steals and Kaohi Kapiko chipped in seven points — all coming in the third quarter — six rebounds and two assists. She made two of the Rough Riders' five 3-pointers for the game.

"We were just hungry and we wanted to win humbly," said Kawakami, who came within a bucket of her season high in points. "We try to approach every game the way same, so we just wanted to go out there, do our thing and come out with a win. We're both good teams."

Roosevelt jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, which quickly turned to a 13-3 advantage on a Kawakami 3-pointer. The Rough Riders padded their lead to 26-8 following a 13-3 run that was capped by Kawakami's putback with five minutes and 41 seconds remaining in the first half.

"It got us really excited once we got up that big, but we still didn't want to give up and we wanted to keep pushing," Kawakami said.

Roosevelt took a 34-16 lead into the intermission.

The Rough Riders twice led by as many as 19 points, the last time coming late in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Kapiko after consecutive offensive rebounds in the same possession. However, Na Menehune turned to leading scorer LaChae McColor and Hoku Mateo, who scored all of their points in a 14-5 run that pulled them within 55-45 midway through the fourth quarter.

Cierra O'Brien hit the back end of two free throws with 1:02 to play to make it a nine-point game, but ultimately ran out of time in their comeback attempt.

Moanalua does a great job — they never stopped playing — they ran it hard at us in the second half," Higa said. "We just missed a lot of easy ones, free throws, got a little lax on defense, but we've got to be able to pick up that same kind of pace as that first half."

McColor finished with a game-high 21 points and Mateo notched a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds to go with two steals. Moanalua shot 37.8 percent (17 of 45) from the field and was 15 of 24 from the free-throw line. Na Menehune outrebounded the Rough Riders, 28 to 24, but committed 22 turnovers. Roosevelt shot 41.4 percent (24 of 58) from the field and recorded 16 steals and 10 assists.

Moanalua coach Tani Almont-Done said it was a difficult task to try and overcome Roosevelt's hot start in the first quarter. 

"It was tough and I'm proud of my team for chipping away at that," Almont-Done said. "If you look at the final score, we played a heck of a second half, but it's a good learning tool for us. It's great for us because we haven't been challenged this way so far this season, so it's a good place to have a game like this."

With the win, Roosevelt clinched the Red East regular-season title and will have the division's top seed entering the 12-team OIA Red Tournament. The Rough Riders host Kalani Monday, while Na Menehune who are locked into the Red East second seed and will also have a first-round bye in the league postseason, visits Kahuku Monday in their final regular-season game.