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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveJanuary 30, 2025, 12:14am
Wed, Jan 29, 2025 @ McKinley
KAKAAKO — The road to the OIA championship will run through the North Shore for at least another year.
Makana Kamakeeaina scored 17 points, Tailele Wily-Ava had 13 and Posia Wily 11 to help No. 3 Kahuku successfully defend its league title with its 52-36 win over No. 10 Moanalua Wednesday night.
A crowd of about 500 fans at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium saw the Red Raiders (13-0) down Na Menehune (11-2) in the title game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I girls basketball tournament.
It is Kahuku's second straight OIA crown and 11th overall.
"It took a lot of hard work and dedication in practice and it took us a lot of pushing each other so to be here right now, it's a really great opportunity for us and I'm just so proud of my team with everything we've accomplished this season and just having this is really great for us," said Kamakeeaina, a junior forward.
Kamakeeaina shot 7 of 12 from the field and netted 10 of her points after halftime. Wily-Ava splashed two of her three made 3-pointers in the first quarter and finished 5-of-15 shooting on field goals.
The duo did so despite negotiating foul trouble all night. Both Kamakeeaina and Wily-Ava had three personal fouls by halftime, which limited their minutes after the break.
"Oh man, both of them play a big part of our team, so having them get into foul trouble — it's all the little things," Red Raiders coach Artevia Wily said.
"We always tell them you just gotta control what you can control. Sometimes even if you feel like you're not fouling, the refs will call it, but you just gotta keep playing through it. It was good for them — they're not getting down, they're mad about the fouls, but it's not setting us back — so I was super proud they were supporting on the bench. It's a different view from where they're usually at, but overall it was an adjustment that we had to really figure out who we were gonna put in for them," coach Wily said.
Wily-Ava picked up her fourth foul with 2:55 left in the third quarter, while Kamakeeaina was assessed her fourth foul with 4:07 to play in the fourth. In their stead, Kahuku turned to several reserves to fill in, including Tilau Tonga, who grabbed eight rebounds in 10 minutes of game time.
"I always want to be on the floor so I was a bit sad, but seeing other girls get the opportunity to play on the court with each other made me happy," Wily-Ava said.
Kamakeeaina concurred.
"The bench works hard in practice, so I think for me and Lele to get in foul trouble wasn't great for us, but for them to step up it was just so amazing to see them step up and compete."
Wily-Ava bookended the opening quarter with 3-pointers to give her team an 18-8 lead after eight minutes. The Red Raiders made seven of their 14 field goals in the opening stanza.
Wily-Ava attributed Big Red's red-hot start to a week of focused practices in the lead up to Wednesday's title tilt.
"Our practices this whole week we've been on it. We've been talking a lot more about having better attitudes and just doing what the coaches tell us just to get this win again," Wily-Ava said.
Kahuku also capitalized on its distinct size advantage, which led to a plus-11 margin in total rebounds, including 27 offensive boards. In turn, it held a 28-16 edge in points in the paint.
Posia Wily collected a team-high nine rebounds, while Tuisila Wily-Ava and Zaylyn Falevai collected eight boards apiece. Tuisila Wily-Ava also tallied six steals, while Posia Wily added four assists.
The Red Raiders never trailed and led by as many as 21 points in the closing minutes.
Shanti Castillo scored all of her team-high 12 points after halftime to lead Moanalua. She shot 3 of 7 from beyond the arc and was the only Na Menehune to play all 32 minutes.
The Big Blue duo of bigs, Shailoh Liilii and Serenity Tacgere — who combined for 25 points and 24 rebounds in Monday's semifinal win over No. 8 Mililani — were held to six and five points, respectively, on Wednesday.
"She's a great player and she really is someone that we had to key our defense on and just play smart (again), so our girls did a great job trying to contain her and I know she didn't get a lot of looks at the basket, but she's still a great player to me; I respect her," Artevia Wily-Ava said of Liilii.
Although the Menes' duo combined for just 4-of-11 shooting on field goals, Tacgere still managed to record 14 rebounds, three blocks and two assists and Liilii finished with eight rebounds, two steals and a block.
Rheanna Nobleza had seven points through the first 14-plus minutes of the game, but suffered a concussion according to Moanalua coach Kirk Ronolo after she collided with a Kahuku player who was whistled for an illegal screen on the play. Nobleza lost her footing as a result of the upper body contact and fell violently to the court with 1:17 left in the second quarter. She remained on her back while she was tended to by athletic trainers from both teams.
Ultimately, Nobleza left the game and did not return.
Moanalua coach Kirk Ronolo spoke at length in a postgame media scrum about what he felt was a poorly-officiated game.
"All season we get called for touch fouls. We come and we play against this team — which plays physical — we're getting physically beat us," Ronolo said.
"I ask the ref to watch, they keep telling me, ‘okay, okay.' I said to them, ‘Protect my girls' and then I get a warning — it's frustrating, you know. We try to play basketball the way it's supposed to be played and we get put at a disadvantage because they're able to play physical like that; it's just not right and something's gotta be done," he added.
Ronolo, who noted that he has been an official himself for 18 years, made the distinction that he had no qualms with Kahuku or its players, but pointed directly to the three-person officiating crew for what he felt was a lack of control in establishing what would be allowed over the course of the game.
"I don't know how many times (there was) two hands in the back, just bulldozing my players under the rim. I brought it to their attention and then the last time I said, ‘Do something about it' and I get a warning, so I shut up after that and let them do it. The result of the physicality (is) my best player gets a concussion because of a hard screen, because they didn't clean it up in the beginning," Ronolo expressed. "Officials are taught to clean it up in the beginning. If the play is physical, clean it up in the beginning so that stuff doesn't happen. They didn't clean it up and that's a direct result: my girl is out with a concussion."
Nobleza remained on site and was assessed by medical staff in a separate area. Ronolo said it was a mild concussion that Nobleza sustained.
The loss of Nobleza, a senior for Moanalua, left Ronolo's squad void of not only one of its top players, but a bona fide team leader as well.
"Huge, huge, huge," Ronolo said of the impact of the injury. "I got young guards, nobody to step up and take her place. She's a big piece of the puzzle, without her we're at a disadvantage and not to take away from Kahuku — they're a great team and it's not the girls' fault — the officials should have cleaned it up."
Ronolo also referenced his team's 26 turnovers as being a pivotal part of the final result.
"We didn't execute what we were supposed to do — too many turnovers, freshmen mistakes. (If I) live with the freshmen in the starting lineup, I gotta live with those mistakes, too. The turnovers, it's something we've tried to fix all year. We come to the championship game against a tough team like that — big and scrappy — you can't afford the turnovers," Ronolo lamented.
Moanalua was seeking its fifth OIA championship and first since 2003. Both of its losses this year have come against Kahuku. It had reeled off 11 consecutive wins since a 58-38 loss at the hands of the Red Raiders in the regular season opener back on Dec. 13.
Kahuku, the lone remaining undefeated team in the OIA — and one of just two on Oahu (No. 1 Kamehameha) — has won four of the last six league championships at the Division I level.
The Red Raiders will have a seeded berth and first-round bye in next week's Pacific Century Fund Team/HHSAA State Championships.
Na Menehune will host a first-round game Monday.
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