The Sabers celebrate after defeating Mililani, 37-26, for the OIA Division I girls basketball championship. CJ Caraang | SL

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Wed, Feb 9, 2022 @ Radford

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Mililani

26

Campbell

37

Final	1	2	3	4
Mililani (11-2, 12-5)	3	7	7	9	26
Campbell (13-0, 14-2)	12	8	4	13	37

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. Parado 13 pts  3/5 FTs

J. Funakoshi 6 pts  2/4 FTs

J. Parado 9 tot  3 off  6 def

R. Mayo 10 tot  1 off  9 def

A. Bantolina 4 ast

R. Mayo 4 ast

ALIAMANU — Championship clinched. 

Led by Julien Parado's stellar all-around play, No. 9 Campbell captured its first league crown in girls basketball with a 37-26 win over Mililani in the title game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I tournament Wednesday night.

A crowd of about 450 fans at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium saw the Sabers complete an unblemished 13-0 league record with a wire-to-wire victory over the Trojans (11-2). 

"It's definitely amazing,  I mean, I don't think we imagined coming here this year, especially after COVID, but I think with our new team coming up we had the chemistry, we had the skills to be here and we proved it tonight," said Parado, who scored a game-high 13 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. 

Not only did the junior finish one rebound away from a double-double, Parado also notched five of her team's 10 blocks, as well as four steals and one assist, for good measure. 

Mililani had 22 total turnovers and Campbell tallied 14 steals.

The Sabers won the rebounding battle, 32-19. 

The Trojans were held well below their per-game scoring average of 48.5 points. It was their second-lowest scoring output all year, behind only their 36-18 loss to Campbell in the regular season, three weeks ago. 

"No, it was pretty much the same," Mililani coach Michael Oyama said when asked if the rematch played out differently than the first meeting. 

"That pressure again — the second half we made some adjustments to pull ‘em out and create some openings, so that helped, but we just couldn't get over that hump and at that point we were probably pretty low on energy as well, so hats off to them. Congrats to them, their coaches; they played pretty clean basketball the whole game," Oyama said of the Sabers. 

Campbell's stifling man-to-man defense is a point of pride for the players, Parado proclaimed. 

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"I mean, we practice it almost every single day and that's what we're proud of and I think man (defense) keeps the intensity up, keeps us pushing the ball down and that's what helps us in the game," she said. 

Parado's defense set the tone early. Mililani's very first shot attempt — a 3-pointer by leading scorer Mahealani Choy Foo — was blocked by Parado. 

Later in first quarter, she helped the Sabers separate with her offense. Parado hit a baseline runner from eight feet and then drained a 7-foot runner from the lane that ignited a 12-1 Campbell run that was capped by Parado's fast break layup that gave her team a 16-3 lead with 6:33 left in the second quarter. 

The 13-point margin was the largest of the game for the Sabers. However, the Trojans chipped away with a 7-0 run to start the second half to pull to within 20-17. 

Campbell went scoreless for more than five minutes to begin the third quarter, but answered with a 9-0 run that included a couple of buckets by Taysia Molina-Schulte and was capped by Caitlyn Hosaka's straightaway 3-pointer that made it a 29-17 cushion for the Sabers with just over six minutes left to play. 

"After our talk we really tried to pull it together, keep our composure and just play as a team," Parado said. "I mean, we're out here to win and we had to fight hard to the end."

The Trojans cut it to a seven-point game with a 5-0 run to get it to 29-22, but Parado scored five of Campbell's eight points the rest of the way to secure the win for her team. 

Campbell led at halftime, 20-10. 

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Aliyah Bantolina had seven points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks in the win. Molina-Shulte added four points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. 

The Sabers, who finished first in the Western Division and were coming off of a 34-31 win over Radford in Monday's semifinals, are seeded fourth in next week's Heide & Cook/HHSAA State Championships. They have a first-round bye and then will open the tournament against either Moanalua or Waiakea in next Thursday's quarterfinal round. 

"I can't even tell you how I feel right now," Campbell first-year coach Jasmine Corpuz said. "I gotta go outside and I gotta experience and I gotta enjoy with the girls. I really cannot tell you right now, I'm speechless. You know, I'm just so proud of them. I'm just so proud of them, that's all I can tell you."

Mililani, the second seed out of the West, was also seeking its first OIA championship in program history. 

"I'm proud of the girls. We had that run in that third quarter where we could have actually at least tied it or got ahead there, (but) we just couldn't convert," said Oyama, whose team was coming off of a 45-43 overtime win against Kaiser Monday.

Jovi Funakoshi and Akemi Kawamata led Mililani with six points apiece. Raini Mayo grabbed 10 rebounds in a losing effort. 

The Trojans were 7 of 16 shooting from the free-throw line, while the Sabers knocked down 6 of 13 from the charity stripe. 

"Free throws hurt us and then give (the Sabers) credit," Oyama said. "They kept their composure and they finished it out."

Mililani will host Roosevelt in a first-round game Monday. The winner of that game will advance to play No. 2 seed Konawaena. 

Two-time defending state champion Iolani drew the top overall seed and will face the winner of the Kaiser-Maui play-in game, while Lahainaluna drew the third seed and will play either Radford or Punahou.