Kaimuki rolls over Campbell, 60-47


Kaimuki's Dejah Faasoa puts up a shot attempt against Campbell. Stacy Kaneshiro | SL
'EWA BEACH - Kaimuki capitalized on the numbers game to roll over Campbell, 60-47, Wednesday night in a quarterfinal of the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red girls' basketball tournament at the Sabers' gym.

The Bulldogs (8-6), the Eastern Division's third seed, advance to the championship bracket semifinals of the double-elimination tournament against East fifth seed Kahuku (7-7), which stunned East top seed Kaiser, 64-54, in another quarterfinal. Tipoff is 6 p.m. Friday.

The Bulldogs and Red Raiders, as well as Farrington (11-2) and Kapolei (13-0) have secured Division I state tournament berths, as the lowest they can place is sixth. The top six teams from the OIA Red qualify for the state tournament.

The Sabers (8-5), the West's second seed, drop to the elimination bracket and will play at Kaiser, 6 p.m. Friday.

Kaimuki pushed the tempo early in hopes of wearing down Campbell, which suited seven players, as four others were out with injuries. Also, Campbell could not bolster its depth with players from its JV West championship team because it missed the 24-hour roster eligibility deadline. The Bulldogs also double teamed Sabers point guard Mariah Kelley.

"We were trying to put pressure on the guard and we knew they had one decent shooter, so we were trying to get up on the shooter," Kaimuki coach Mona Fa'asoa said. "They only had seven players, so we were trying to run on them. We were hoping to get them tired, but they're a very scrappy team. Their forward, No 24 (Cassie Ernst), she battles underneath. She got a lot of offensive boards, so that helped them out a lot."

Ernst was the only Saber in double-figure scoring with a team-high 20 points, while the Bulldogs were led by sophomore Alison Pologa's game-high 21 points, including three 3-pointers. Letisha and Dejah Fa'asoa each added 12 points.

The Bulldogs had the Sabers chasing from the start, taking commanding leads of 21-9 after the first quarter, 31-21 at the half and 44-29 after the third. The closest the Sabers got since the first quarter was to within 44-35 when they opened the fourth period with a mini 6-0 run.

Of the eight teams left in the tournament, five are from the East with three already qualifying for states.

"Everybody was beating up on each other," Fa'asoa said of the East teams. "It was very competitive."


Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].