WAILUKU — It was the fourth meeting of the Moloka'i High School and Seabury Hall girls basketball teams — their second of the week — but the Farmers only had one thought on their minds as they rolled to a 38-16 victory over the Spartans for the Maui Interscholastic League Division II championship on Thursday night at the Baldwin High School gym.

'It's a word that we brought up today — it's 'remember,' '' assistant coach Mike Hooper said to The Maui News. ''Remember your opponent, because they will remember what you can do and what you cannot do. Remember the things that made you successful against that team.

''Just remember and have pride.''

Moloka'i finished last season 9-4 overall in the MIL but missed out on a chance to go to state after losing in the championship game against Seabury Hall before falling in a sudden-death playoff for the second berth with Lana'i.

Needless to say, the Farmers (12-1) had no intention of missing out this year.

''The seniors — there are six of them — they felt like this was their year to prove something and they came out,'' Hooper said. ''The young ones, too — we have a good core of young ones, so we have something we can build with. They worked so hard.''

Leading the way for the Farmers was freshman Kalei Adolpho with 17 points. Adolpho dominated around the rim, taking advantage of several second-chance scoring opportunities and finishing with four blocks.

''I'm really happy that everything paid off, all the work, and that we played a really good game,'' Adolpho said. ''(Our coaches) told us that we had to take it today and just play hard. We were pretty confident in knowing who was the main people and what we needed to do, so we just tried to focus and remember what we did in practice.''

Yacine Meyer scored 12 points for the Spartans (10-3), who saw improvements in their defense but struggled offensively throughout the night, going 0-for-12 from the field with six turnovers in the first quarter before Meyer sank two free throws with 4 minutes, 25 seconds left in the half.

''Offensively we struggled and we're just going to need to practice between now and then and we're going to try to just work on what we can,'' said Seabury Hall coach Philip Tongg. ''They're tough, the Farmers are tough, and they're going to do well at the state tournament. They're going to represent the MIL well because they have a really good energy among the girls.''

The Farmers swarmed the Spartans from the start, pressuring them and forcing turnover after turnover. They never trailed during the game, maintaining at least an 11-point lead the entire time, after scoring 15 unanswered points to start the matchup.

''The pressure is what we need and the pressure is what we have a difficult time recreating in our own practices and when you go to Honolulu, that's what it's going to be is pressure,'' Tongg said. ''I hope that we helped Moloka'i also tonight, because the MIL isn't thought very well of so far as basketball is concerned ... and it would be nice to go over there and have a good showing.

''I think that Moloka'i is poised to turn some heads.''

Each team only scored four points in the second quarter, but Moloka'i came out running at the start of the second half with Adolpho putting up two layups to lengthen the Farmers' lead.

As the game came to an end, there was little doubt that it was certainly Molokai's night.

Both teams will make the trip to O'ahu for a chance at the state title.

''You know they came to work from day one,'' Hooper said. ''They had a reason and a goal to become champions and all the sacrifice paid off in the end.

''They wanted it, so they had to go out there and earn it. They've come a long way, a long way from what we had last year and made big steps.''

SEABURY HALL (16)

Allicia Imada 0 0-0 0, Michelle Mallen 0 0-2 0, Yacine Meyer 4 4-4 12, Wailana Spangler 0 0-0 0, Charlotte Burns 0 0-0 0, Leslie Smith 0 0-0 0, Sierra Jacob 1 0-2 3, Ariel Duell 0 1-2 1. Totals 5 5-10 16.

MOLOKA'I (38)

Kaira Kaulia-Makaiwi 3 0-0 6, Danna-Lynn Hooper 1 4-6 6, Ayla Bicoy 0 0-0 0, Rosie Akaka 0 0-0 0, Brittany Rawlins 0 0-0 0, Jamie Duvauchelle 1 0-0 2, Amber Sterner 0 0-0 0, Tawney Fernandez 1 3-4 6, Kristin Forsberg 0 0-0 0, Puna Kawamae 0 0-0 0, Hilary Chow 0 1-2 1, Kalei Adolpho 7 3-4 17. Totals 13 11-16 38.

Seabury Hall 0 4 7 5—16

Moloka'i 11 4 12 11—38

3-pointers— Seabury Hall 1 (Jacob), Moloka'i 1 (Fernandez). Total fouls—Seabury Hall 16, Moloka'i 14. Fouled out—none.

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