St. Francis clinches Division II state berth
By Kyle Sakamoto
Advertiser Staff Writer
St. Francis girls basketball coach Paul Tanaka knew center Siutiti Takai could be a force, if only she could lose her nice-girl persona and work on her conditioning.
Takai has taken care of both this season and proved it in a 61-52 victory over Punahou last night at St. Andrew's Priory in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II Round Robin.
Takai, a 5-foot-10 junior, scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Troubadours and Buffanblu finished in a tie for the ILH Division II crown with 11-3 records.
"Titi is the nicest girl you will ever meet," Tanaka said. "Before this season the most she could play was 2 or 3 minutes because she couldn't handle it."
Takai used her bulk to dominate the paint last night.
"The block is my house, ain't nobody going in my house," Takai said.
St. Francis took a 21-5 lead after the first quarter with Takai scoring 11 consecutive Troubadour points during a four-minute stretch.
"It took a lot of work to get her to play mean," Tanaka said. "She's slowly becoming an animal."
St. Francis will represent the ILH for the first time in the Division II state tournament.
"It's an honor because St. Francis has never experienced this," said junior guard Jennifer Perry, who scored 15 points.
"She complements Titi so well," Tanaka said of Perry. "She's our main shooting guard."
A loss by St. Francis last night could have led to a possible three-way tie for second place in the ILH.
"If we would have lost this game I would have cried knowing we would have to play so many more games," Tanaka said.
Punahou is ineligible for the Division II state tournament because it has a Varsity I team.
"We cannot go (to the state tournament)," Punahou co-head coach Kevin Velasco said. "We have no goal to set except for the ILH championship."
The Buffanblu were 2 of 18 from the field and 1 of 9 from the free-throw line in the decisive first quarter.
"St. Francis came out and played a great first half," Velasco said. "It took us a little while to get into our groove. We came out a little tight."
St. Francis' Tiyanna Fao scored 10 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter to hold Punahou at bay.
Arielle Daniels scored 11 points to lead the Buffanblu, who shot just 12 of 32 from the free-throw line.
St. Francis (11-3) 21 14 11 15—61
Punahou (11-3) 5 14 11 22—52
ST. FRANCIS—Melissa Allen 0, Jennifer Perry 15, Danielle Tanaka 8, Bryanna Batts 0, Tesia Ahai 2, Maile Kimura 0, Emma Decalio-Spencer 0, Tiyanna Fao 14, Jamie Iwashita 0, Siutiti Takai 20, Nicole Perry 2. Totals 23 12-16 61.
PUNAHOU—Megan Akamine 6, Hi'ilei Morimoto 2, Shelly Masuda 6, Pomai Stone 0, Erica Miyabara 0, Taila Autele 4, Cory Shin 12, Erin Nagata 4, Jessilyn Ota 0, Yuree Nam 2, Arielle Daniels 11, Whitney Kim 0, Kaliko Fernandez 0, Cristen Aona 1, Kelsie Look 2, Tesia Ahai 2. Totals 19 12-32 52.
3-point goals—St. Francis 3 (Tanaka 2 , J. Perry 1). Punahou 2 (Shin, Akamine).
Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8041.
• • •
Iolani 49, Christian Academy 45
Keri Oyadamori scored 24 points, Erin Liu 11 and Lauren Kimura 10, leading the host Raiders in the ILH Division II single-elimination tournament. Ashley Medcalf scored 21 points for Christian Academy.
Christian Academy (2-10) 6 14 9 16—45
Iolani (5-6) 2 17 14 16—49
CHRISTIAN ACADEMY—Hanna Edwards 5, Ashley Medcalf 21, Sarah Yoshimoto 2, Momoko Metzker 9, Michel Chon 3, Jessica Benito 5. Totals 14 16-27 45.
IOLANI—Keri Oyadamori 24, Lauren Kimura 10, Blair Limm 0, Amanda Maehara 0, Kari Oki 0, Malia Anderson 0, Tori Chun 0, Julie Watanabe 2, Erin Liu 11, Christine Farmer 0, Chelsea Wong 2, Marissa Ma 0. Totals 19 6-10 49.
3-point goals—Christian Academy 1 (Medcalf). Iolani 5 (Liu 3, Kimura 2).
Reported by Iolani A.D.
