Kailua's Tara Takata drives to the basket against Leilehua. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kailua's Leilani Lastimosa puts up a shot attempt in the paint against Leilehua. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Leilehua's Tywanna Abbott puts up a shot attempt against Kailua. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kailua's Taufau Williams puts a shot attempt over Leilehua's Tiffany Reyher. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Wed, Jan 22, 2014 @ Mililani

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Kailua

49

Leilehua

46

Final	1	2	3	4
Kailua (9-5, 12-8)	11	14	13	11	49
Leilehua (11-2, 14-6)	15	13	8	10	46

J. Maluyo 15 pts  3 3pm  4/4 FTs

T. Williams 21 pts  5/8 FTs

MILILANI — A new champion will be crowned in girls basketball in the Oahu Interscholastic Association.

Taufau Williams scored a game-high 21 points and Kailua toppled Leilehua, 49-46, in a Red Conference tournament quarterfinal at Mililani High School Wednesday afternoon.

With the victory, the Surfriders improved to 9-3 by winning their third consecutive game, punched their ticket to the 12-team Division I state tournament and advanced to Saturday's OIA semifinal round.

"I'm very happy for the girls that they qualified for the state tournament," Kailua coach Mandy Llamedo said. "Each game is only going to get tougher from here, so this was good win for us."

Kailua, the East No. 3 seed, will play East top-seed Roosevelt in the 5:30 p.m. game at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium. West top-seed Mililani meets East No. 2 Moanalua in the 7:30 p.m. semifinal. All four teams have already secured state-tournament berths.

"They're a good team and we made too many mistakes during critical points in the game," Leilehua coach Elroy Dumlao said. "Too many turnovers, missed layups — those things cost us."

The Mules, who won their first league basketball crown last season, saw their five-game win streak snapped and fell into the consolation bracket and will host an elimination game against Kahuku Friday. Leilehua can still earn a spot in states by beating the Red Raiders.

Kailua built an early 6-2 lead midway through the first quarter after a Williams layup. However, Leilehua stormed back with a 16-5 run — capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Jerri Maluyo — to take its largest lead of the game at 18-11 early in the second quarter. Later in the period, the Mules went on a 6-0 run to hold a 28-22 advantage, but Williams made the first of two free throws, rebounded her own miss on the second and scored on the putback just before halftime to cut it to 28-25 at the intermission.

The Surfriders led 38-36 after three quarters and stretched it to 45-41 by midway through the fourth on a Williams' free throw. However, Maluyo rallied Leilehua with a spectacular up-and-under move and a 3-pointer from the right corner on consecutive possessions to give her team a 46-45 lead with two minutes and 50 seconds remaining.

Patria Vaimaona scored with 1:47 to play to put Kailua back ahead 47-46. Leilehua failed to convert on its final five possessions and Williams closed out the scoring with her outback with 28 seconds left.

"Our girls are used to playing with each other and they've been in those tough situations at the end of games before, so they did a good job of staying focused and finishing," Llamedo said.

Vaimaona and Kawehi Perry scored nine points apiece for Kailua, which was a meager 8 of 21 from the free-throw line.

Maluyo had a team-high 15 points and Tywanna Abbott and Tiffany Reyher added nine points each for Leilehua.