By Wes Nakama
Using a suffocating and opportunistic three-quarter court press, Moanalua held visiting Mililani without a field goal for the first 11 minutes Friday night en route to a 49-24 victory in the OIA girls basketball quarterfinals.
Akaecia Mateo scored a game-high 18 points and Shailoh Li’ili’i added 13 points to help Na Menehune improve to 11-1 in league play and advance to Monday’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal against Campbell (11-0) at Pearl City. Radford (10-1) will face the winner of Saturday’s Kahuku-Leilehua game in the other semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Pearl City.
Moanalua, Campbell and Radford have secured state tournament berths with their quarterfinal victories. Mililani (8-4) will play host to Pearl City (7-5) at 6 p.m. Monday in the fifth-place bracket, and can earn a state berth with a win.
Moanalua, which was coming off a crushing 70-38 defeat at Kahuku in the regular season finale Jan. 18, wasted no time in taking control of Friday night’s game. Making steals and stops on nearly every Trojans possession and converting them into baskets, Na Menehune jumped out to a 10-1 lead after one period and extended it to 19-1 after Mateo’s layup with 5:37 remaining in the second quarter.
Brooke Kurasaki finally made Mililani’s first field goal on a 3-pointer from the top of the key a half minute later, igniting a 13-5 run that cut the lead to 24-14 on Akemi Kawamata’s three-point play one minute before halftime. But Li’ili’i sank two free throws seven seconds later and Rheanna Nobleza drained a 3-pointer from the left wing with 19 ticks remaining to push the lead to 29-14 at halftime.
“We faced a similar press (before), but they’re good, they capitalized on all of our turnovers,” Trojans coach Kyle Kurasaki said. “They’re a tough team.”
Mililani closed it to 29-19 after Brooke Kurasaki opened the third period with a 3-pointer and baseline jumper, but Jamie Smith answered with a layup to spark a 12-2 run capped by Mateo’s free throw that stretched the lead to 41-21 with one minute left in the quarter. Moanalua then held the Trojans without a field goal in the fourth period to win going away.
“We went right back to the drawing board and practiced defense, defense, defense … and it showed tonight,” Na Menehune coach Kirk Ronolo said. “I always preach, ‘Get our hands up, play pressure defense with hands in the passing lane,’ and I don’t know how many tipped balls we had tonight that turned into transition points, but it worked. I think this was the best complete game we played all season.”
Kurasaki scored 10 points to lead Mililani.
Photos: Jonathan Salvador
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