Punahou best in state
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Punahou School girls basketball team survived its final, toughest outside challenge last night to hold off Kahuku, 56-52, for its third Hawaiian Airlines State Championship since 1997.
Punahou's Becky Hogue hugs the state championship trophy.
The game was played before a vocal crowd of 2,646 at the University of Hawai'i's Stan Sheriff Center.
The Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion Buffanblu (17-0) completed a perfect season, and became the 23rd ILH school in 27 years to win the title, and the 16th in the past 17 years. Punahou was the lone private school remaining after Tuesday's first round, and had to defeat three tough teams from the O'ahu Interscholastic Association to win the championship.
Kahuku (14-3) was the toughest of them all, despite finishing third in the OIA.
"(The Red Raiders) are solid, aggressive, and their goal was to go inside and crash the boards," said Buffanblu senior guard Rachel Kane, who won tournament Most Outstanding Player honors after scoring a game-high 20 points, grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out five assists and making five steals. "And they have speed. They just come out and play hard."
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Kane made 7 of 9 free throws, including two with 13 seconds remaining, to give Punahou a 56-50 lead. But her most important contribution — superb ball-handling in the crucial fourth period — helped the Buffanblu preserve a delicate lead against Kahuku's athletic defense.
Rachel Kane cuts down a piece of the net.
"She has good composure, and her ball-handling was tremendous," Red Raiders coach Wendy Anae said. "She's the closest thing in the state to being a truly complete guard."
The game was tied at 41-41 entering the fourth, but Punahou went up 45-41 on a jumper by Elyse Umeda and two free throws by Kane. The Buffanblu then held off Kahuku with a disciplined delay game led by Kane, Umeda and sophomore Shanna-Lei Dacanay. Punahou sank 13 of 14 free throws in the fourth period, needing only one field goal.
"It's really hard against their guards," Anae said. "I wish there was a shot clock."
The game was mostly nip-and-tuck through early in the fourth period, after the Buffanblu had taken a 28-22 halftime advantage. Neither team had led by more than six points.
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The Red Raiders quickly closed it to 28-26 on layups by Artevia Wily and Karla Tailele, and then 30-29 on Tuli Peters' three-point play. Tailele's coast-to-coast layup tied it at 33-33, and a layup by Peters gave Kahuku a 40-38 lead with 41 seconds remaining in the third period.
Kahuku’s Camilla Ah Hoy grabs a rebound against Punahou during last night’s final of the state basketball tournament
Free throws by Dacanay put Punahou back up 41-40 entering the fourth.
"We tried to get our tempo going, but (the Red Raiders) are so big, strong, athletic and smart," Buffanblu coach Mike Taylor said. "This was their fourth day in the tournament, but they still played with so much pride and enthusiasm. It's a credit to Wendy that they play as a team, and they're so young, they'll be tough next year."
For Punahou, the celebration is now — exactly one year after a heartbreaking defeat to Kamehameha in the title game.
"When you lose a game like that, you just build from it and come back stronger," said Umeda, like Kane a four-year letter winner. "You just come back stronger physically and mentally. It's so great to end it like this ... it's a storybook ending."
