No. 1 seed Punahou routs McKinley, 69-48

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Punahou guard Shanna-Lei Dacanay gets off a shot despite defensive pressure from McKinley's Meagen Miyasaka in a state girls quarterfinal game at the Stan Sheriff Center. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

The No. 1-seeded Buffanblu (15-0) raced past McKinley, 69-48, in last night's quarterfinals at Stan Sheriff Center, outscoring the Tigers 22-10 in the third period after a tight first half. Punahou will play OIA runner-up Farrington at 6:30 p.m. in today's first semifinal.

After McKinley (11-5) trimmed the Buffanblu's lead to 31-29 midway through the third quarter, Punahou All-State guard Rachel Kane scored eight points on three consecutive baskets to spark a 15-2 run that gave the Buffanblu a 46-31 lead entering the fourth.

"We knew what we had to do (in the second half)," said Kane, who finished with a game-high 20 points and three steals. "We were getting kind of soft on defense (in the first half), and our offense feeds off our defensive intensity."

The Tigers, who finished fourth in the OIA, looked like a threat to make the semifinals an all-OIA affair in the first half by virtually matching Punahou basket-for-basket. Chantal Yadao's jumper tied the score at 19 with 2:30 remaining, and Ceslie Ma'afala's layup cut the Buffanblu's lead to 22-21 after a 3-pointer by Kane.

Becky Hogue's turnaround jumper with 40 seconds left gave Punahou a 24-21 lead at intermission.

"I hate to make excuses, but I think being off for 2 1/2 weeks showed," Buffanblu coach Mike Taylor said, referring to Punahou's 17-day layoff since ending the regular season. "We had to shake off some rust. But our defensive intensity picked up in the third quarter."

The Buffanblu applied full-court pressure in the second half and forced McKinley into a series of turnovers.

"They got us into a situation we didn't want to get into," Tigers coach Jesse Victorino said. "We wanted our guards to attack the basket, but they got afraid of the pressure and started to go sideline to sideline. We kind of got out of our offense, and once we got rattled on offense, we didn't get back on defense. But Punahou is a very good, experienced team, and they'll wear you down."

A meeting of two All-State post players, Hogue and McKinley's Amber Lee, resulted in 17 points for Hogue and 10 for Lee.

"Christina (Takara) did a good job of fronting Amber, and Becky would help on the backside," Taylor said. "They did a good job, and after a while (the Tigers) didn't even try to get the ball into her."

Bre Carson led McKinley with 16 points, including three 3-pointers.

Kane said the Buffanblu don't mind being the lone non-OIA team left in the championship bracket.

"Physically, the OIA teams are bigger than us," she said. "But we look at it as a challenge."