Maryknoll's Ciera Tugade-Agasiva (13) shot 8 for 10 from the free throw line in the first half and finished with 18 points in Spartans' season-opening win over Campbell. Brandon Ching | SL

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_22111020__MGL2653.JPG - Brandon Ching | SL

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KAKAAKO —Maryknoll trailed by as much as 12 in the first half but clawed back and held off Campbell to win, 54-50, on the opening day of the Matsumoto Law Group McKinley Girls Basketball Black and Gold Classic at the Student Council Gymnasium Wednesday.

Ciera Tugade-Agasiva powered the Spartans in the post with 18 points and shot 8 of 10 from the free throw line and post mate Taimane Faleafine-Auwae added in 12.

Janelle Yap and Elisa Holakeituai each chipped in eight as the Spartans as a team shot 24 of 33 (72.7 percent) from the free throw line for the game.

The Spartans led for much of the fourth quarter until Julien Parado had a steal and layup in transition and split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 48. Tugade-Agasiva fed Faleafine-Auwae and Hailey Perez put Maryknoll up three with 31.5 seconds left.

"They're not afraid to play scrappy, we're going to make mistakes, a lot of them are still young in terms of court time. Those mistakes we will have to live with as long as they battle and play hard, we cannot complain," Maryknoll coach Chico Furtado said.

Parado, who had 12 points, managed to cut it to one after Perez split free throws until Faleafine-Auwae was fouled in the corner off the inbounds with 4.5 seconds left. She made the first free throw but missed the second and Yap was there to clean up the rebound and was fouled immediately with 3.6 seconds on the clock. She was a perfect 6-for-6 and sank both foul shots to put the game away.

"That's a huge offensive rebound and she's 5 foot 2 for Christ's sake. It was a long rebound and long carom and she put herself in the right position to get it and got fouled and made two key free throws. That's how our kids play, they play scrappy," Furtado said of the game-sealing play.

Campbell led the entire first quarter and took a 14-10 lead going into the second. Faleafine-Auwae brought Maryknoll within two, 14-12, but the Sabers went on a 9-0 run aided by 3-pointers from Shanna Sardon and Taysia Molina-Schulte. Yap stopped the scoring drought momentarily but Haley Morre canned a triple off the inbounds to give Campbell, 26-14, their largest lead of the game.

Despite going cold from the field, the Spartans chipped away by finishing the quarter shooting 7 of 8 from the charity stripe and trailed, 28-24 going into halftime.

"That was big. I told them for seven players, two hurt. A lot of guts playing hard. We had a couple in foul trouble so they had to sit longer than I would like. That's how we're going to have to do things. We have to battle and handling pressure and better and figure out what teams are doing us defensively so we're not throwing the ball all over the place," Furtado said.

Maryknoll as a team shot 14 of 18 in the first half while Campbell did not attempt a free throw.

"We made a concerted effort to get the ball inside. I'd like to get a shot from time to time, but that wasn't happening. Campbell came out in an aggressive man and did a lot of trapping. Sometimes when you do that, you foul a little bit. But you have go to the line and make them, which we did, otherwise it's a blowout," Furtado said.

Molina-Schulte scored a team-high 15 points, hit a 3 to extend the lead by five and made another to break a 32-all tie. Tugade-Agasiva worked in the paint and saw her first field goal drop and had eight points in the quarter. Her turnaround shot tied the game at 37 and Elisa Holakeituai hit free throws to give the Spartans the lead going into the fourth.

"Our three bigs are going to be the cornerstone of what we want to run offensively. Trying to take advantage of our size and length. Hopefully we can get our guards to contribute more offensively. Defensively they played hard and scrambled.

Both the Spartans and Sabers are in the Gold Division which features Division I teams from across the state.

Maryknoll wraps up the Classic against last year's state runner up Konawaena on Friday, Nov. 11 at 4:30 p.m. and faces MIL champion Lahainaluna on Saturday at 3 p.m.

"I look for us to play hard and see where we are at against the best teams from each of the leagues," Furtado said.

Campbell takes on Kamehameha-Kapalama at 3 p.m. Friday and concludes with state champion Iolani on Saturday at 6 p.m.