Punahou's Marissa Miller attempts a shot on goal under duress in the first half of an ILH Division I contest. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Punahou's Dani Kauahi attempts a shot on goal against Kamehameha in the second half of an ILH Division I contest. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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KAPALAMA HEIGHTS — Punahou jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and never looked back as it defeated host Kamehameha, 6-3, in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I contest Friday night.

Kaya Lee and Marissa Miller each scored two goals while Malia Gacutan and Dillyn Lietzke had one apiece to help the Buffanblu improve to 6-0 in league play.

Kamehameha, who got goals from Payton Bosque, Laakea Dedrick and Emma Kim, dropped to 3-2.

Despite the and slow start loss, Friday's match was a marked improvement for the Warriors, who dropped the first meeting with Punahou in the season opener, 10-3.

"They're improving and they have some really talented players and you can see it's not going to be easy," longtime Punahou coach Ken Smith said on the Warriors. "We still have to play them at least a couple more times so we can't take them lightly for sure."

Kamehameha, who took a trip to San Diego during spring break to partake in some scrimmages against mainland competition, battled from a 3-0 halftime deficit to make it a competitive second half.

Second year Kamehameha coach Randy Bart put things into perspective after the game.

"I told the girls be encouraged, but don't be satisfied. We still got a lot of work and we're only halfway through the season too so we still have time," he said. "For some of the girls, especially the younger girls, this was like their first meaningful game against Punahou. Just having that experience is something they can reflect on so in the second half of the season it should help them the rest of the way."

Punahou's Dani Kauahi attempts a shot on goal against Kamehameha in the second half of an ILH Division I contest. Greg Yamamoto | SL    Purchase image

Bart added that his team's half court defense did pretty well, but it was the turnovers that hurt his team in the decisive first half.

"It was some missed assignments and some nerves," he said. "Maybe couple girls tried to do too much out of system and just didn't connect on some passes. Punahou with their speed, any bad pass they can take advantage of it."

Gacutan stole a bad pass on the Warriors' second possession of the first quarter that led to Lee's power play goal off the feed from Miller at the 4:05 mark of the period. Two possessions later Dani Kauahi plucked a Kamehameha pass out of the water and passed it up the pool ahead to Gacutan, who then dished off to Miller on the other side of the goal for a score.

"One thing we like to emphasis is always making it one extra pass that leads to goal," Smith said on his team's ball movement. "You might have a good look to the goal, but always look and see if there's one more pass that you can make."

Lietzke, who is second on the team with seven goals on the year, added a goal with 24 seconds left in the first half to put Punahou up 3-0 at the break.

The second half was a lot more competitive and closer. Lee scored on Punahou's first possession off a pass from Micaela Kauhane, but Kamehameha got two buzzer-beating goals within their next four possessions to make it a 4-2 game.

"I just told the girls I thought Punahou played a good half and we were nowhere near that, so if we can play more up to our potential, than things can even out," said Bart.

Miller scored her second goal of the night on a nice bar-in to start the final period of play and Gacutan added a penalty goal midway through the quarter to put the game out of reach of Kamehameha. The Warriors kept fighting however, and added a goal by Kim after Lori Char passed out of a double team driving to the goal for the final point of the night.

Although the score was closer than the last time his team played Kamehameha, Smith was happy that his girls were tested.

"We had some adversity and we hung in there," he said. "We still were positive of each other and we were able to come away with a win, so you're happy with that. Now they know that you have to keep working hard so it's good."