Punahou's Vae Malufau had a game-high 20 points and 13 rebounds in a win over Iolani. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

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Tue, Dec 23, 2014 @ Iolani

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Punahou

47

Iolani

31

Final	1	2	3	4
Punahou (9-4, 13-7)	12	4	15	16	47
Iolani (7-6, 11-8)	9	10	2	10	31

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

B. Maeda 9 pts  1 3pm

V. Malufau 20 pts

S. Buscher 5 tot  2 off  3 def

V. Malufau 13 tot  4 off  9 def

S. Buscher 1 ast

V. Malufau 1 ast

Vae Malufau and Tyra Moe combined for 33 points as the Buffanblu overpower Iolani, 47-31 in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu matchup at Iolani's Lower Gym on Tuesday night. Punahou, ranked fourth in the ScoringLive/OC16 Power Rankings improve to 3-1 in the ILH, while Iolani, ranked seventh, falls to 2-1 in the ILH.

"It's huge," said Punahou coach Kevin Velasco, on stealing a victory on the road. "Especially what Iolani did to Kamehameha last week, we knew they were going to be tough and it was an eye-opener for us."

Malufau scored 20 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and dished four assists while Moe added 13 points, seven boards, and two blocks as the Buffanblu grabbed 31 rebounds for the game.

"I guess since we were a bigger team, we had to work going from outside to inside. We had to establish the outside so our guards could get us open. We had to slow it down and we knew they would go faster since we were scoring," said Malufau.

"We feed off each other, we have good chemistry since we played together for so long and it works really well with our high-low," said Moe.

"We're fortunate to have two bigs that are tough in there, they complement each other. Their inside post play is getting better and better," said Velasco, on Malufau and Moe.

Punahou jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, but Iolani came back to score 7-unanswered points after Brooke Maeda found Sierra Buscher backdoor for a field goal. The Buffanblu used a 6-0 run to end the quarter.

In the second quarter, Emily Nomura broke a 14-all tie with two free throws and Maeda drained a 3-pointer from the left wing to give the Raiders a 19-16 lead going into halftime.

In the third quarter, Malufau and Moe went to work as Punahou outscored Iolani, 15 to 2. Maeda made the Raiders' only field goal of the quarter. Malufau's putback gave the Buffanblu back the lead and jumpstarted a 11-0 run to finish the quarter. She scored eight of the team's 15 in the paint. Punahou scored 32 of their 47 points in the paint.

"Give credit to Iolani, they came out tough and played the game they thought they were going to play and they were moving. At halftime, we told the kids to play our game —ball inside first then out, when they realized it started to change and it wore on them. The first half they looked tired, we had to pick up our energy. To the kids credit they decided to come out and play better in the second half," said Velasco.

"I think our help side and transition defense had to be sharpened and we fixed it up. We had to rotate and that's how we got most of our steals," said Malufau.

"I think when the shots weren't falling and they kept pounding it in the middle, it wore us down, our girls were fighting but they were giving up size in height and weight, we just got worn out," said Iolani coach Dean Young.

The Buffanblu overcame 18 team turnovers for the game while Iolani had 13 turnovers.

"We had a slow start and it was hard to get going at first but we picked it up," said Moe.

"We wanted to pressure their guards and I thought we did a pretty good job. We needed to convert more of those turnovers into points so we could press more. Defensively, once we were able to settle down we were able to front their bigs, we did a lot better job in the second quarter," said Young.

Punahou didn't let up and pushed the lead to as much as 17 points and outscored Iolani 16 to 10 in the fourth.

The Buffanblu got to the free throw line 12 times and went 8 of 12, while Iolani got to the line twice. Malufau was 6 of 8 from the line and had four 3-point play opportunities.

Iolani shot 5 of 21 from the 3-point line.

"We still had open looks, wide-open 3-pointers but weren't hitting. Our girls played well, we just didn't hit shots that could've turned the game around," said Young.

"We had to change, we were in a 3-2 and changed back to a man because they were losing them and they were getting those 3's when they were crossing. Once our kids decided to play defense, we were alright in our man-to-man, we were tougher upfront and box out and getting backside rebounds. They're tough, you can't leave them alone," said Velasco, on defensive adjustments.

Brooke Maeda led all Iolani scorers with nine points, Emily Nomura had seven points, and Skylar Nakata scored six points off of two 3-pointers.

Iolani will play in a tournament in Oregon during winter break before hosting No. 3 Maryknoll on Jan. 6. Punahou will take on the Lady Spartans two days later at the Clarence T.C. Ching Gymnasium.