Punahou overwhelms Kamehameha, 58-36

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Punahou's Eryn Chun slid past Kamehameha's Ashley Ruff for two points during third-period action at Hemmeter Fieldhouse last night. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

The victory leaves the Buffanblu alone atop the Interscholastic League of Honolulu standings with a 6-0 record. Kamehameha falls to 5-1.

The win came two days after junior point guard Elyse Umeda broke her left pinkie during practice. She is expected to miss three weeks.

"We had 1 1/2 practices to get used to playing without her," said junior shooting guard Rachel Kane, who scored a game-high 15 points. "We just wanted to go out and play hard."

Applying full-court pressure from the opening tip, Punahou started strong and never stopped. Kane scored five points in the final 40 seconds of the first period to cap a 9-0 run and give the Buffanblu an 18-8 lead.

The lead became 32-13 by halftime after the Warriors went through a six-minute stretch with only one field goal.

Kane scored six points in the third period and Kelly Karns' banker at the buzzer gave Punahou a 46-21 advantage entering the final quarter.

The performance more than pleased Mike Taylor, the Buffanblu's first-year coach.

"We have 14 team players, and they all came through beautifully as a group," Taylor said.

That group included Umeda, who suited up in full uniform and cheered from the bench while wearing a soft cast on her left hand.

"She is such a gamer, that says a lot about her as a leader," Taylor said. "She's good friends with some of the Kamehameha girls, and she was really looking forward to this game. She could have just sat and felt sorry for herself."

That's something Kamehameha must now avoid, especially after losing guard Lehua Wood for an indefinite amount of time to an ankle injury. Kamehameha already had been playing without point guard Tiffiny Shim, who is nursing a stress fracture in her leg.

"Not having Lehua hurt us, but we don't want to make excuses," Warriors coach Clay Cockett said. "We didn't handle the ball well, and we weren't patient enough on offense. We just didn't do a good job, period. They kicked our butt."

PUNAHOU 18 14 14 12—58
KAMEHAMEHA 8 5 8 15—36

Punahou—Rachel Kane 15, Eryn Chun 6, Shanna-Lei Dacanay 6, Megan Abbott 6, Kristen LaVine 3, Anuhea Macfarlane 0, Janelle Shin 0, Sydney Anderson 4, Christine Takara 5, Becky Hogue 11, Kelly Karns 2. Totals 22 14-20 58.

Kamehameha—Jeneka Taeoalii 2, India Soo 2, Ashley Ruff 4, Courtney Chai 0, Adrianne Hee 0, Kekai Crabbe 0, Amber Carter 5, Chrystal Hodson 1, Mounia Nihipali 10, Megan Kanoa 0, Megan Ching 12. Totals 14 7-16 36.

3-point goals—Punahou 0. Kamehameha 1 (Carter).

Division II

Kamehameha 50, St. Andrew's 27. Kam—Wendy Kashiwabara 10, Sarah Curnan 10. St. A—Holly Saito 9.

TRACK & FIELD

Let the relays begin: Relay championships — where a baton handoff can become a moment of triumph or tragedy in a young runner's season — will be held by O'ahu's two high school leagues today and tomorrow.

The private-school Interscholastic League of Honolulu will hold its relay meet today at Punahou School's Alexander Field. Field events start at 3:30 and hurdles open the running events at 3:45.

The public-school O'ahu Interscholastic Association held qualifying heats yesterday and will hold finals tomorrow at Mililani High Stadium — 2 p.m. for field events and 3 p.m. for running.

At Punahou today, the team championship may hinge on the meet-ending 4x400-meter boys relay and the race is near-tossup among all six teams, ILH track and field coordinator Jeff Meister said.

He said girls hurdle relays will feature evenly matched four-girl teams from Kamehameha, Iolani and Punahou.

In field events, the top three from each school count in the "relay" total.

Kamehameha's Pita Kitashima pole vaulted 13 feet, 6 inches last Saturday and barely missed at the ILH record height of 14-6, Meister said. Punahou's Jay Hanamura cleared 13 feet.

Discus throwers and shot putters Brandon Ala of Kamehameha and Dane Uperesa of Punahou will continue their rivalry. Ala has threatened the state discus record.

In the OIA Relays tomorrow, Roosevelt appears to have the most well-rounded team and should score in most events. "Their 4x400 team is the fastest I've seen this year," Mililani coach Edwin Alfaro said.

Kahuku's boys have the fastest 4x100 team, with state football co-Player of the Year Mulivai Pula running the anchor leg.

On the girls side, Kaiser has potential scorers in every event. Castle has fewer girls, but coach Martin Hee has prepared them to compete in a wide range of events.

By Dennis Anderson