Moanalua spoils senior night for eighth-ranked Kalani


Moanalua's Delylah Sanerivi puts up a shot against Kalani in the second half of an OIA East matchup Tuesday night. Michael Lasquero | SL

Moanalua is hitting its stride at the right time of the year.

Visiting Na Menehune defeated their second straight ranked opponent in four days with a 60-55 win over No. 8 Kalani to close out the regular season Tuesday.

A crowd of about 300 at Earl C. Homer Gymnasium saw Moanalua outscore the Falcons by 12 in the second half to avenge a a 66-49 loss in last year's Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II title game.

With the win Na Menehune improved to 7-3 in the OIA Division I-East standings and secured the conference's third seed in next week's 12-team playoffs, thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker over Kaiser (7-3).

Kalani (8-2) could have clinched the East's top seed with a win, but dropped to second in the standings because of a 41-38 regular season loss to Kahuku (8-2), who Moanalua defeated last Saturday, 49-45.

All six Moanalua players that checked into the game registered points against the Falcons. Kelcie Leong scored 18 points and knocked down three triples and Delylah Sanerivi added 16 strong points in the paint to lead Na Menehune in the win.

Logan Luke led the Falcons in the loss with a game-high 20 points.

Both team were tied at 14 after the first period of play, but the home team was able to go on a 13-0 run to start the second quarter. However, Na Menehune came right back to trim the deficit and make it a 35-28 game at the break.

The runs favored Moanalua in the second half.

Na Menehune started the third quarter with a 11-0 run to swing momentum back on their side as they led 47-46 heading into the final period of play.

Kalani scored the first five points of the fourth quarter, but Moanalua went on a 10-0 run of its own, taking the lead for good after back-to-back triples by Mariah Borce and Leong.



Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].