Girls basketball

The championship game of the OC-16/HHSAA Girls Basketball Division I State Championships is 27 minutes away. Defending champion Konawaena will face ILH champion Maryknoll. It’s the old guard against the new school. The cagey veterans against the army-platoon deep women of Sparta. Maryknoll, guided by Chico Furtado, has not won a state title in girls basketball since 1977 and ’78 when Russell Dung was head coach. Konawaena, the No. 1 seed and 24-1 this season, has won six of the […]

In the ILH, scouting and preparation are the norm. Girls basketball is a world of fun and a world of hurt whether teams are ready or not. But how to prepare for the state tournament, where the Konawaena Wildcats and Lahainaluna Lunas are the top two seeds? Coach Bobbie Awa’s Wildcats made it look basic and amazingly efficient in another lopsided win over powerhouse Punahou last night, a 51-27 win at the OC-16/HHSAA Girls Basketball State Championships. Punahou coach Liz […]

See Part 1 here This is where Mike Taylor is a master. He had his share of outstanding skill players like Janelle Nomura and Shanna-Lei Dacanay. Shawna Kuehu was the finest prep player of her generation, and it was a heck of a generation. (We haven’t seen so many talented players in the girls game here since, really.) But Taylor also had some years when the skill level wasn’t quite elite. Close, but a notch down, though he usually had […]

The more things change… OK, I can’t help thinking about this, particularly after seeing Konawaena overwhelm Punahou 51-27 on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the OC-16/HHSAA Girls Basketball State Championships. (Note: A 12-team format will always be skewed when one of the state’s top 4 teams, Punahou, has to meet the No. 1 seed on day two.) In a post yesterday, I mentioned the dynastic era of Punahou girls basketball under then-coach Mike Taylor. It ran concurrently (yes, there […]

This was a fairly close game in the first quarter, but Chanelle Molina’s corner 3 sparked a big run that put the top-seeded Konawaena Wildcats ahead 22-10 during the second quarter. The Buffanblu tried using the three-quarter press that they displayed against Farrington last night, but Konawaena handled it and got a layup. Konawaena is getting a huge game from PG Cherilyn Molina, and she fed sister Celena Jane Molina for a wing 3 with :02 left in the half. […]

Day 2 of the Big Dance, a.k.a. OC-16/HHSAA GIrls Basketball Division I State Championships, is here and it’s not what some of us expected. Last year’s OIA champion, Roosevelt, saw its state title dreams come to an abrupt end. First, the Rough Riders lost in overtime to Leilehua on Saturday in the OIA final. On Tuesday, they were soundly ousted by Mililani 64-48. The margin of victory by the Lady Trojans shocked most fans, but it’s safe to say that […]