Girls basketball

The ILH playoffs are humming and Kamehameha is in potential elimination mode. The Warriors will travel to ‘Iolani today in second-round action of the playoff tournament. A win by Kamehameha plus a win by Maryknoll against Sacred Hearts would be good news for the Warriors. Since Kamehameha lost to ‘Iolani in a tie-breaker game for second place in the regular-season standings on Thursday, the Warriors need a first- or possibly second-place finish in the league playoffs to claim the league’s […]

Nitty-gritty time is here in girls basketball. In the OIA, the East has been the beast with three of the four teams in the semifinal round. Tonight at McKinley Student Council Gymnasium, East 1 Kahuku takes on East 3 Moanalua, the latter being the hottest team — with the biggest wins — of the past two weeks. Moanalua knocked off frontrunners Kahuku and Kalani in back-to-back games. Moanalua (15-9, 7-3 OIA East) eliminated West 6 Kapolei 38-22 on Tuesday and […]

The trees swayed, but the forest remains the domain of the Lady Spartans. Maryknoll collected every first-place vote from coaches and media to remain locked at No. 1 in the Star-Advertiser Girls Basketball Top 10 on Monday. The Lady Spartans (24-2) continued their dominance in Interscholastic League of Honolulu play with wins over Sacred Hearts and ‘Iolani. Maryknoll completed the regular season 10-0 and has sealed a berth in the state tournament. They have been so dominant, voters have made […]

The last time the St. Francis Saints won the ILH girls basketball championship, well, they weren’t even the Saints. Back then, they were the Troubadours, which is only fitting. With a dramatic, sometimes poetic 47-43 win over No. 10-ranked Hawaii Baptist on Saturday afternoon, No. 6 St. Francis captured its first league crown since 2001. In other words, the four senior Saints were still in diapers. “Our seniors, the four of us working together, our whole team jelled together and […]

Kaiser’s magical season isn’t quite over. The Lady Cougars fell 51-28 in OIA quarterfinal play at Mililani on Wednesday night, but they can qualify for the state tournament with a win over Leilehua. Kaiser, a very young team with just two seniors, was cold from the field from start to finish. Mililani switched from man to 2-3 zone defense after one quarter and the move worked out for the Trojans. Kaiser shot 2-for-11 from the field against the zone and […]

With a state-tournament berth on the line, the Lady Trojans of Mililani played one of their best games of the season. A 51-28 win over Kaiser was soured, however, by a potential season-ending injury to senior Kalena Gibson. The lanky forward fell under the backboard on a fastbreak drive during the third quarter and suffered what might be an ACL injury, interim head coach Francis Dagan said. Her value as a the team’s lockdown defensive stopper could be a major […]

It was a clash of two hot teams in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I playoffs. Kapolei had a defensive strategy to stifle Moanalua. The visiting Hurricanes just couldn’t take care of the ball. Moanalua forced the ‘Canes into 25-percent shooting and 30 turnovers for a 38-22 win on Tuesday night. Moanalua, the fourth-place team from the East, advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I girls basketball playoffs. Kapolei, the fifth-place team from the West, […]

Kamehameha’s loss to ‘Iolani by a substantial margin (15 points) led to a major shuffle among the top five in the Star-Advertiser Girls Basketball Top 10 this week. Here’s how I voted in the poll, along with my list of Top 35 teams regardless of classification. (All win-loss records as of Saturday, Jan. 13.) Pupule BKG Top 10 01/14/18 1. Maryknoll Spartans (22-2, 8-0 ILH) 2. St. Francis Saints (20-0, 12-0 ILH D-II) 3. Lahainaluna Lunas (19-4, 10-0 MIL D-I) […]