Victoria Kintz had a game-high 16 points with four steals and two assists to lead the Bulldogs to their second OIA Eastern Division win. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Tue, Dec 15, 2015 @ Kaimuki

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Kahuku

36

Kaimuki

41

Final	1	2	3	4
Kahuku (6-7, 7-10)	12	14	6	4	36
Kaimuki (9-3, 14-7)	15	6	14	6	41

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

V. Kintz 16 pts  4 3pm  2/4 FTs

B. Blake 13 pts  3/4 FTs

K. Sefo 5 tot  1 off  4 def

B. Blake 11 tot  4 off  7 def

S. Palik 4 ast

L. Benson 4 ast

Long ball and team basketball was the difference for Kaimuki as they upended Kahuku (3-3) Tuesday evening at Kaimuki Gymnasium.

Kaimuki, which competes in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II and is the defending OIA D2 champions, protected its home court from the visiting Division I Red Raiders with a 41-36 victory in front of a ruckus crowd to improve to 2-0 in league play.

The Bulldogs were led by junior Victoria Kintz, who had 16 points, four steals and two assists. The 2015 ScoringLive All-Hawaii Division II first team selection started off the game red hot by pouring in 11 of her 16 points in the first quarter alone. Kintz was a perfect 3-for-3 in the quarter as she went around the horn and hit from the right corner, top of the circle and the left wing to help Kaimuki jump out on Kahuku 15-12 at the end of the first period.

In the second stanza Kintz went cold and so did the rest of the Bulldogs as they shot a horrid 2 of 11 from the field in the quarter. Kahuku started the first 1:58 of the second period on a 7-0 run to take the lead 19-15. Kintz was 0 for 4 in the quarter and Kahuku turned up the defensive pressure to outscore Kaimuki 14-6 to take a 26-21 lead at the half.

"That halftime lecture from coach always gets to us," said the versatile Kintz. "We had a little pep talk without coach. "I told them straight up I know I played selfish basketball in that first, we all did. Second half let's get back at it. One shot at a time. Look what we did at Kalani down by six, and then Campbell down by almost 20 points let's do it again."

After the halftime pep talk the Bulldogs stormed out of the gates with an 8-3 run to tie the game at 29. On the game-tying points Kintz dribbled left and hit a step back 3-pointer from the right wing with 3:45 in the third to equalize the game.  With 2:20 left in the period Kuuipo Sefo found Brandi Pfeiffer-Kekoa cutting to the basket for an easy lay in to take the lead, 32-30.

Sefo finished with five points and four rebounds. Pfeiffer-Kekoa had three points and led the team in rebounds with five.

Kintz picked up her second assist in the period as freshmen guard Kaelyn Espinda hit a 3-pointer from the left wing during the early run and again in an almost duplicate play from the corner with 1:20 remaining in the third to make it 35-30 in the Bulldogs favor. The Red Raiders got a put back bucket from Brittini Blake with 46 seconds left to trail by three headed to the final quarter.

Blake led the lady Red Raiders with a double-double performance of 13 points, 11 rebounds and had a blocked shot.

As the fourth quarter began Kaimuki did the wise thing and took some air out of the ball and forced Kahuku out of their vaunted zone defense. The Bulldogs left the door open as they struggled in the fourth quarter from the free throw line going 4 of 10.

It was a tough final period for the Red Raiders as Kaimuki made Kahuku chase them around and held the Red Raiders 0 of 5 from the field in the quarter. Kahuku lost one player to fouls and another as senior Laken Teo went down with an apparent ankle injury after crashing into one of her own players. The Red Raiders could only muster four free throws and were unable to catch up to Kaimuki.

"We have to give it out to Kahuku they're tough," said Kaimuki coach Mona Faasoa. "Their defense was really hard to score on, they're long, they move, and they're fast. We had to score a little at a time and play good solid defense. They were killing us on their post we tried to minimize the inside and boxed out much better in the secon half. The kids are great kids and they stuck with it, but hats off to Kahuku."

The Red Raiders seemed frustrated as they out rebound the Bulldogs 37 to 19, but could not stop Kaimuki from long range as they hit eight 3-pointers during the course of the game. Kaimuki's defense was able to subdue the Red Raider's offense to just 10 points in the second half.

"Terrible. Terrible, " said Faasoa about her teams rebounding. "Because they're (Kahuku) taller than us we think they're allowed to rebound over us. We should always be boxing out and jumping. It's something we need to constantly be working on."

Kaimuki will head to Salt Lake to take on Na Menehune(1-1) and Kahuku will play host to Kalani (0-2) on Saturday.

"It's always a great win. Every win is a great win whether we play Division I or Division II," said coach Faasoa. "They're are some Division two teams that are very competitive too. I'm just happy we started our season off pretty well."