Kaimuki stuns East top-seed Roosevelt, 47-44

Kaimuki's Canny Aikau puts up a shot as Roosevelt's Tatiana Mariano defends. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Kaimuki's Alison Pologa (14), Canny Aikau (13) and Princess Lauvao (13) combined for 40 points while living up to their team's nickname with gutty performances down the stretch to lead the Bulldogs to a stunning 47-44 upset win over host Roosevelt in an OIA Red quarterfinal playoff game.

For Kaimuki, just 6-5 in the regular season, the victory sets up a Saturday semi-final match against Leilehua at Waipahu and more importantly, guarantees the Eastern Division's fifth place team a spot in the upcoming state tournament. Roosevelt, the previously undefeated Eastern division champion, will have to beat Kahuku next week to claim one of the OIA's six Division I state berths.

Played at a frentic pace throughout, with the two teams combining for 51 turnovers, the game saw 7 lead changes and was tied for the sixth and last time at 40-40 a minute into the final quarter. Pologa's fourth three-pointer put Kaimuki ahead for good 43-40 with 5:20 left, but the Bulldogs needed 4 Lauvao free throws and several steals by Aikau in the final two minutes to seal the win.

Roosevelt's Devyn Kauhi, who came off the bench to lead her team in scoring with 12, stole the ball at midcourt and drove for a laayup to make it 43-42.

After Lauvao hit a pair of free throws to make it 45-42, the Roughriders's Chelsea Wong put back after a second offensive rebound made it 45-44.

Lauvao missed the front end of a 1 and 1 with 16.7 left, but Aikau stole the ball and Roosevelt fouled Lauvao again with 6.7 seconds left. This time she converted both free throws and Aikau interecepted another Roosevelt pass to end the game.

"She is my ace", said an elated Kaimuki coach Mona Fa'asoa of Aikau. "She suffered cramps in both legs, but she sucked it up. She wanted to get back in."

About Lauvao scoring only 9 points through three quarters and being in foul trouble, Fa'asoa said, "Everyone double teams her. We were able to open it up for others and they came through. That is what we want."

"It made us come back harder", said Lauvao when asked if playing the night before made her team tired. "I wanted to make those last two free throws for my team and coach."

Roosevelt, which played without Starr Rivera and her 10 point per game average, unofficially blocked 8 Kaimuki shots and had the game's biggest lead 23-16 late in the second quarter.

To pull off the season's biggest shocker, Kaimuki had to overcome many negatives:

** In their regular season game, they lost to Roosevelt by 21 points, 54-33.

** Roosevelt had the home court advantage

** Just 24 hours earlier, the Bulldogs had to rally to beat Kapolei while Roosevelt was well rested.

** After leading 16-10, they had to overcome a seven-minute scoring drought while Roosevelt went on a 13-0 scoring run.

** They missed their first 11 three-point attempts.

** Lauvao, who averaged 20 points per game in the regular season, drew her 4th personal foul with 2:28 left in the third quarter. With only 9 points until then, she returned from the bench with 6:47 left in the game.

** Aikau, who got her team off to a fast start with 8 first quarter points and constantly broke Roosevelt's press, went down twice with leg cramps in the final six minutes, only to come back to with key defensive plays at the end.