Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
No. 8 Hawaii Baptist looks to stay unbeaten against second-place Mid-Pacific




The top two teams in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's Division II girls basketball standings will face off in the final game of the regular season Thursday night when Hawaii Baptist pays a visit to Mills Gymnasium and Mid-Pacific.

Tip off between the Eagles (13-0) and Owls (11-2) is set for 5 p.m.

HBA came away with a six-point win over Mid-Pacific in the only other meeting between the teams this year — back on Jan. 7 — but this go-around won't have much at stake other than pride.

The Eagles, who are ranked eighth in the Hawaiian Electric/ScoringLive Power Rankings — the lone D2 team in the top 10 — clinched their fourth straight league title following their 43-29 win over Saint Francis Tuesday night.

Not that it matters to their coach.

"We're just approaching it the same way we have all year and that's every game, we just take it one at a time," HBA coach Keith Sugiura said. "We're preparing for Mid-Pac in the same way that we would regardless of whether it was the championship game or us being able to clinch it."

HBA is averaging 48.6 points per game, which ranks first in all of D2. Senior guard Stephanie Dang (12.1 ppg) and sophomore wing Ally Wada (10.8 ppg) lead the offense.

"With Steph we kind of look for her to be our primary shooter and with Ally we're continuing to encourage her to look for more offensive opportunities," Sugiura said. "Both of them create a lot for us. We're trying to have them not just be shooters, but scorers who are also creating opportunities for their teammates."

Wada scored a game-high 15 points and Dang added 10 the last time the Eagles played the Owls.

"They have a system there that they run under coach Keith and they run it effectively," Mid-Pacific first-year coach Sherice Ajifu said. "They're just a machine out there. They obviously have talented players, but they know what they're doing, they stick to their guns and they're obviously the team to beat."

However, Sugiura said the Eagles still have room for improvement.

"I think we're kind of a team that is still trying to piece everything together," Sugiura said. "It's a process. We're trying to grow with that, the girls are getting more comfortable and jelling on the court. Throughout the season you can see them growing. I think being able to get through that first Mid-Pac game gave us a huge boost in confidence, but we're still evolving and still growing as a team."

Meanwhile, the Owls have reeled off six straight wins — including a 49-18 drubbing of La Pietra Tuesday — since losing to HBA. Their 42.6 points per game ranks third-best in D2.

Sophomore wing Ciera Kameehonua (13.3 ppg) is the lone player averaging double-figures in scoring and ranks second — just ahead of Dang — in the ILH in scoring average.

"She's definitely our go-to scorer," Ajifu said. "She's a good shooter, she looks to shoot the ball a lot, she creates a lot of offense, but I think after that Hanalani game (where Kameehonua scored a season-high 26 points) she's had to make a little bit of an adjustment because I think some teams have adjusted to her, so we'll see how she does."

The last time the teams played it resulted in a low-scoring affair (HBA beat Mid-Pacific, 32-26) and Sugiura expects a similar score this time around.

"I think last time both of us played primarily man-to-man defense so it was both of us kind of feeling each other out, but part of their strength is they're really disciplined on the defensive side," Sugiura said. "Part of each other's strength is on the defensive side, so it might not be real high scoring."

The Eagles have held the opposition to an average of just over 27 points per game. Just one opponent (Damien) has even eclipsed the 40-point mark against the Eagles in the regular season.

The Owls aren't far behind, allowing an average of just under 28 points per game, but Ajifu is hoping the offense will come around Thursday night.

"I think, looking back to the past four months, that we're an entirely different team than we were the first time we played them," Ajifu said. "We're slowly starting to see glimpses of our offense being run how we want it to be run. Fortunately we have some kids that can just play and create on their own and that's helped us a lot. We try to be high intensity on defense, but we're still trying to get there on offense and slowly, we're getting there."

Both teams have already clinched one of five ILH berths into the D2 state tournament. The top four teams in the eight-team division after the regular season will have about a week off while the remaining four teams — and the top team in the ILH D3 standings — will compete in a single-elimination tournament for the final state berth.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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