Saint Francis' Nani Santos (11) and Mata Sagapolutele (32) grinned at the bench after the Saints defeated Hawaii Baptist in overtime Saturday night. Michael Lasquero | SL

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Sat, Dec 23, 2017 @ Hawaii Baptist

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Saint Francis

41

Hawaii Baptist

37

F/OT	1	2	3	4	OT
Saint Francis (15-0, 25-1)	11	10	2	11	7	41
Hawaii Baptist (13-2, 27-7)	13	12	3	6	3	37

A. Wada 25 pts  1 3pm  14/16 FTs

K. Kalei 15 pts  2 3pm  3/4 FTs

NUUANU - Maybe it was Kaimi Kalei's coming out party.

Kalei drained a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left in regulation and No. 7 Saint Francis rallied to beat host Hawaii Baptis, 41-37, in overtime Saturday night at the Dan Liu Gymnasium.

The Saints (8-0) moved into sole possession of first place in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II standings in handing the Eagles (6-1) their first setback in the battle of unbeatens.

"For me, I thought it was out of the ordinary," Saints coach Chris Hoe said. "She usually doesn't take that big-time shot like that. Out of the four years that I've coached here, her game's more complete now. I felt the confidence for her to shoot that, but I didn't expect that either."

Kalei led the Saints with 15 points, including two 3-pointers. But perhaps her clutch shot might be the confidence booster that could carry the Saints the rest of the season.

"I'm usually not confident in myself," admitted Kalei, a senior guard. "I just had to be confident this time because I wasn't going to just not shoot it."

Saint Francis overcame a 25-point scoring barrage by HBA's Ally Wada, whose jumper rimmed out with one second left in regulation and led to overtime.

The Saints trailed since 3:06 left in the first half and finally took the lead when Mata Sagapolutele opened the OT with a jumper from just inside the free-throw line after taking an inbounds pass.

The Eagles would pull to within 2 with 24 seconds left when Wada made one of two free throws to make it 39-37. Shortly, Saint Francis' Kealani Neves went to the free-throw line, but missed the front end of a one-and-one, as the ball went out of bounds, giving HBA the ball. But Wada's 3-pointer with four seconds left fell short and landed out of bounds. Sagapolutele was fouled on the inbounds and made both of her ensuing free throws for the final margin.

The smaller Eagles did not want to engage the more physical Saints to start the second half. The Eagles went into a stall, moving the ball around the floor rather effectively. They did turnover the ball three times, but the Saints could not capitalize on any of them. Wade made 3 of 4 free throws to Skye Ah Yat's field goal for the only scoring in the third.

"We're a smaller squad," HBA assistant Alan Matsui said. "That wasn't the original plan because we thought we because they were not going deep in our bench that we'd give them more of a break, trying to save our legs a little bit. When we got into the overtime, some of the legs weren't there because it was a physical game."

The stall was frustrating for the Saints.

"It was really frustrating," Kalei said, "because that usually doesn't happen to us, so it was kind of shocking."

Fatigue was evident when Wada's 3-pointer in the OT fell way short.

The Saints pulled to within one on three occasions in the fourth, but HBA widen its lead with 2:27 on two free throws by Sasha Phillips. The Saints also returned the favor in OT by stalling once they took the lead. The only difference was Saint Francis needed to just run out about two minutes. The Eagles went into their delay scheme for an entire quarter.

Kyley Nakagawa missed the front-end of a one-and-one with 56 seconds left, setting up Kalei's game-tying 3-pointer.

Kalei's heroics overshadowed a tremendous effort by Wada, who made 14 of 16 free throws that kept the Saints at bay most of the game.

"She did fantastic," Matsui said. "She tried to carry the team. Like I said, legs were a little bit gone there at the end. We got people coming back from illness, injuries, so it was tough."

Both teams return to action Jan. 4. Saint Francis will host Le Pietra, while HBA travels to Damien.