KAKAAKO — Ledjan Pahukoa scored 18 of her game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter to lift Lahainaluna to a 57-51 win over Kamehameha on the second day of the Matsumoto Law Group McKinley Girls Basketball Black and Gold Classic Thursday night. 

It was the first game of the preseason for both teams, two of the six teams in the Gold Division of the 12-team tournament, which got underway Wednesday and continues through Saturday at the Tigers' Student Council Gymnasium. 

Pahukoa, a senior guard and Second Team All-Hawaii selection last year, drained five 3-pointers and was a perfect 10-of-10 shooting from the free-throw line. She had just eight points after three quarters, but got heated up in the final stanza, when the Lunas outscored the Warriors, 24 to 15. 

"You know, Kamehameha ran a lot of stuff at her (defensively) and we had to kinda try and figure some stuff out: how to get her off the ball and coming off screens and stuff like that, which we were kinda able to do," Lahainaluna coach Iolani Kaniho said. 

The Warriors took their largest lead of the night at 45-35 following a pair of free throws by Makenzie Alapai with four minutes and 16 seconds to play. However, Pahukoa answered with a 3-pointer for Lahainaluna, which spurred a timeout by Kaniho. After a stop on the defensive end, Chaland Pahukoa hit another trey to cut it to a four-point deficit with 3:25 remaining. 

"That kind of got us right back in the game, got some momentum going for us and we were able to kinda have the girls settle down a little bit (because) they were stressing out down 10 (points) — you know, it's not easy — but basically they got some confidence back and they were able to finish it out," Kaniho said. 

Kya Kanoho bought Kamehameha some breathing room with her steal and layup, followed by a couple of free throws, to put her team back up, 49-41. However, Ledjan Pahukoa was fouled on a 3-point attempt — she made all three from the line — and then hit from beyond the arc on the Lunas' next possession to pull the Lunas to within a bucket at 49-47. 

A few minutes later, Lahainaluna reclaimed the lead for good on another Ledjan Pahukoa triple from the right wing to give her team a 51-50 advantage with 1:10 to play. 

"Ledjan, you know, she's good. She has a good skillset offensively, defensively she has speed, she works really hard; She's one of the hardest workers we have and we expect big things from her this year," Kaniho said of his senior point guard, a two-time All-Maui Interscholastic League First Team selection. 

Ledjan Pahukoa sealed the victory at the free-throw line. She was a perfect 6 for 6 from the charity stripe in the final 52.7 seconds.

‘It's always good when your best player is your closer," Kaniho added. 

Mary Pahukoa scored nine of her 12 points in the first half and Skylyn Fangarand chipped in with nine points for the Lunas, who went 14-4 overall last season and finished third at the Division I state tournament. 

Kaniho was especially pleased with Mary Pahukoa's contributions on both ends of the floor. 

"We told her after the game that she kept us in the game," Kaniho said of the senior. "Just her steals, her defensive effort, the way she boarded even though she's outsized; She made a lot of big shots so we're really proud of her today, she really stepped up as a senior and she really kept us going until we could get it going in the second half."

Lahainaluna held a 24-21 lead at halftime. 

"We did a lot of good things and then we did a lot of bad things, but there's a reason why we come to a tournament like this, we want to see if our girls can fight. We know it's going to be a struggle, we know it's going to be a battle — every game is going to be close, everybody is good — so we come to these tournaments to test ourselves and we got tested," Kaniho said.  

He continued, "As much as you don't want to be down, it was good to see my girls be down and then hit some big shots and then buckle down on defense and fight their way back, so there were a lot of good things to take away, a lot of things we can work on, so we'll go back, check the film and then see what we can do to get ready for tomorrow."

Kamehameha had three players score in double figures. Freshmen Rylee Paranada and Nihoaokealii Dunn had 13 and 12 points, respectively, and senior Kya Kanoho added 10 points in the loss. 

The Warriors went 5-9 overall a year ago. They finished third in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I standings and missed out on the state tournament. 

The teams met in the Iolani Girls Classic last year, when Lahainaluna came away with a 34-26 win over Kamehameha. 

Both teams continue play in the Black and Gold Classic Friday. Kamehameha will take on Campbell at 3 p.m. and Lahainaluna will Iolani at 6 p.m. 

The Lunas will play Maryknoll at 3 p.m. Saturday, while the Warriors will meet Konawaena at 4:30 p.m.