Punahou players lined up before receiving the schools' 13th girls water polo state championship trophy. Spencer Honda | SL

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Tournament Most Outstanding Player Christina Hicks (left) was a part of Punahou's tough defense that saw herself notch two steals along with two goals in the title match. Spencer Honda | SL

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KAPALAMA HEIGHTS — Even at their home pool backed by a beautiful dusk sky, it wasn't enough to dethrone the defending champs.

For the 13th time and 11th year in a row, the Punahou Buffanblu took home the Stanford Carr Development/HHSAA Girls Water Polo State Championship in an 8-5 victory over host Kamehameha at Kalaniopuu Aquatic Center Saturday evening.

Despite "only" a three-point margin of victory, the Buffanblu were in control for most of the match with a 7-1 lead heading into the final period.

"We hurt ourselves with passes in the first half. They got so much speed. Any bad pass, two or three of them are coming free," Kamehameha coach Randy Bart said. "Going into the last quarter, I just told them, ‘If we get down to the five-minute mark and we don't close the gap, we'll probably have to press a steal and take some chances.'"

The Warriors forced some early turnovers and got a few shots off but were all saved by Punahou goalkeeper Sarah Perez, who tallied nine on the evening. Tournament Most Outstanding Player Christina Hicks slapped in a beautiful back-handed shot from the two-meter line to give Punahou its final score with 3:52 left.

Kamehameha was able to draw four five-meter penalty shots the rest of the way and nailed two of them from seniors Laakea Dedrick and Monet Bisch. Freshman Shaye Story got the final goal in from two meters out with 41 seconds remaining.

"In the past, we had the mindset that we let Punahou control our offense through their defense," Dedrick said, who had a hat trick. "Like I said before, we really are a second-half team. We started having fun, we started laughing and I think that really just helped us going for it."

Tournament Most Outstanding Player Christina Hicks (left) was a part of Punahou's tough defense that saw herself notch two steals along with two goals in the title match. Spencer Honda | SL    Purchase image

The Warriors ended up taking 16 second-half shots in contrast to only four in the first half, in part due to Punahou's suffocating defense.

"Tonight we just blended really well as a team and we focused on working together," sophomore Dillyn Lietzke said. "When we play solid defense, the offense comes on its own. We were really good on communicating tonight."

Two of Punahou's goals came directly off of steals, including Lietzke's second goal off one of Hicks' two takeaways at the 6:14 mark in the second quarter.

"It's rare that somebody gets noticed as a defensive player, but she dominated. Plus she comes down and scores goals too. That was the key to our game," Punahou coach Ken Smith said.

Lietzke notched her first score 33 seconds into the first quarter after senior Naia Young-Kingsbury got the scoring going. Young-Kingsbury also netted a pair with her second one coming in the second quarter as a direct response to the Warriors' first goal.

Hicks had two goals while senior Danielle Kauahi and junior Kaya Lee also chipped in scores.

It was the fifth time the two squads squared off this season and ninth time in the sport's 15-year history that they played each other for the koa trophy.

"They're well-coached, they dedicate themselves and they're athletic," Bart said. "I'm just watching the introductions and (the difference in size between) our girls and then their girls. It's just a little hard to overcome when they can go four or five off the bench, and we go four of five and it's our underclassmen. It's a tough thing to do. We'll keep trying."

Stanford Carr Development/HHSAA Girls Water Polo All-Tournament Team
as selected by the HHSAA

Naia Young-Kingsbury, Punahou
Dillyn Lietzke, Punahou
Danielle Kauahi, Punahou
Shaye Story, Kamehameha
Laakea Dedrick, Kamehameha
Rebecca Buenrostro Gallimore, Baldwin
Kiara Espeleta (GK), Baldwin

Most Outstanding Player: Christina Hicks, Punahou