Kaimuki's Victoria Kintz puts up a shot in the paint against McKInley. Kintz scored a game-high 17 points in a win over the Tigers. Sylvia Lee | SL

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02071636_GBKB-MCK_KAIM-7053.jpg - Sylvia Lee | SL

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HALAWA – Victoria Kintz scored a game-high 17 points with eight rebounds to lead Kaimuki over McKinley, 36-21, to successfully defend its Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II girls' basketball title Saturday night at Jim Alegre Gymnasium.

The Bulldogs (9-3), who narrowly beat the Tigers during the regular season (47-46), have three overall D2.

"I always give a pep talk before games," Kintz said. "This one was probably the most touching one. The Coach (Mona Faasoa) gave hers and that was more touching and we just came out here, put ourselves where we need to defend our title and worked our butts off. I told the girls, ‘Power, pride and hustle.' And they accomplished that."

With the big lead, Kaimuki was able to clear its bench in the fourth period.

"It's just getting ready for that next game," Faasoa said. "It was great that everyone got to go in the championship game."

Kaimuki's defense never gave McKinley good looks at the basket. The Bulldogs also contained the Tigers to two 3-pointers. In their regular-season game, the Tigers drained nine treys.

"They killed us on the 3-point line," Faasoa said of her team's adjustment from the regular-season close encounter. "That was our main goal today, to take away the 3-point shot and see what we could get out of that. The girls did a hell of a job."

The Bulldogs got the bulk of their scoring inside.

Kintz scored 11 of her points in the second half and recorded a block and steal.

"This is her second year playing for me," Faasoa said of her junior guard, "so she knows I expect a lot out of her."

The Bulldogs simply overwhelmed the Tigers, who were out-rebounded, 33-19. It was McKinley's first title-game appearance since 2012, when it lost to Radford.

"We struggled offensively," McKinley coach Donald Kamai said. "They played really good defense on us. They opened up in man and we just couldn't get into a rhythm. We prepared for it, but we just couldn't get in a rhythm. We just got killed on the boards."

The Bulldogs took a 7-4 lead after the first quarter. The game was still tight, but the Bulldogs still had control, as the Tigers managed only one field goal in the quarter.

The Tigers fell 9-4 early in the second, but a three-point play by Dezlyn Naval cut their deficit to 2 and it stayed that way awhile as the Bulldogs missed four free throws before using a 6-0 run to make it 15-7. The Tigers closed the gap a little on Joselle Ferrer's 40-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the half.

McKinley opened the second half with a three-point play from Kayla Rasavahn, but the Bulldogs closed the quarter with 15-5 run to pull away.

With back-to-back championships, the Bulldogs will move up to Division 1 and they're looking forward to the move. But the competition won't be unfamiliar since the OIA plays an integrated schedule.

"We battled with some Division I teams during the regular season so it's really not something new," Faasoa said. "The majority are returning – we lose three (seniors) – but what we have on the bench, we should be able to make up for the loss."