Paranada, Warriors get hot from distance to torch Lunas

Kamehameha freshman guard Rylee Paranada pulls up from distance in the fourth quarter to knock down her seventh 3-pointer of the game against Lahainaluna. Michael Lasquero | SL

Rylee Paranada and the Kamehameha girls basketball team put on a shooting clinic Wednesday night.

The freshman guard knocked down seven of the Warriors' 12 total made 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 22 points as Kamehameha torched third-seeded Lahainaluna, 64-38, in the quarterfinals of the Heide & Cook Division I Girls Basketball Championships at Moanalua's gymnasium.

Kamehameha advances to face second-seeded Konawaena in the second semifinal at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium Thursday night.

"I feel like we just executed and listened to our coaches and we worked as a team to get the win," said Paranada, who shot 7-for-11 from beyond the arc.

The Warriors as a whole shot 50 percent from 3-point land while the Lunas converted on just 22 percent of their 50 shot attempts from the field.

Kapomaikai Nakakura knocked down two treys off the bench for Kamehameha while Kya Kanoho, Mikylah Labanon and Leia Mata also added a made triple.

"To be honest we were just fortunate that we shot the ball super well tonight and we were fortunate that they didn't have their best shooting night as well," said Kamehameha coach Pua Straight.

The Warriors got many open looks from deep as they handled the Lunas' trap and press defense successfully and moved the ball well to find the open man.

"We know they love to pressure so that was our main key for offense that we needed to take care of the ball and get good shots," said Straight.

"Early we were a little bit hesitant, but I think after time they just gained a little bit of confidence and we were able to handle it a little better and get some good shots."

Labanon started the shooting barrage with the first bucket of the game and Paranada followed suit with her first triple to give Kamehameha an early 6-2 lead. Skylyn Fangarang gave Lahainaluna brief 11-8 lead before Paranada answered with her second triple of the game to tie the game at 11. The Warriors took the lead for good on a low post basket by Nihoaokealii Dunn before Nakakura ended the quarter with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to make it a 16-12 game heading into the second quarter.

Paranada continued the hot shooting with a triple to start the second quarter. Kanoho also knocked down a trey to give the Warriors a 26-16 lead in the period and Mata's 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer made it a 31-19 game at the break.

By then the rout was on. Paranada's fifth triple made it a 43-24 game in the third quarter and a layup by Dunn before the stanza ended gave Kamehameha a 49-25 lead after three quarters of play.

Paranada continued to let it fly in the fourth quarter with her seventh and final made 3-pointer getting a friendly bounce from the rim for a 59-32 lead.

"She's a good shooter," Straight said of Paranada. "She runs the point a lot so some times she doesn't always get as many looks being the point guard. When we were able to run her as a 2-guard, she definitely had a good shooting performance tonight."

Dunn was also solid with a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds to go along with three assists, a steal and a block.

Fangarang led Lahainaluna in the loss with 13 points on three made 3-pointers.

Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].