By Wes Nakama
Propelled by a heavy but spirited heart, the Kalani girls basketball team dug deep Friday night to hold off visiting Radford, 44-40, in an emotional and exciting OIA playoff elimination game.
Alina Stephenson scored 16 points and sister Angel Stephenson added 12 points as the East No. 4 seed Falcons improved to 15-5 overall and 8-3 in league play. They advance to Saturday’s 7 p.m. quarterfinal game at West No. 1 seed Mililani (16-5, 9-0). Shanntay Stroman scored a game-high 22 points to lead Radford, the West No. 5 seed which ends its season at 12-8, 5-5.
Things looked hopeful for the Rams, who trailed for most of the game but went up, 31-30, when Stroman swished a 3-pointer from the left wing with 5:38 remaining. The door seemed to open wider over the next 35 seconds, when Alina Stephenson fouled out and was followed to the bench by fellow junior starter Isabelle Baker, who was whistled for her fifth foul with 5:03 on the clock.
It was at that point that freshman Angel Stephenson called timeout, and went to the sideline overcome with emotion.
“I really wanted to win this game for my dad, and I know Alina wanted that, too, but she fouled out,” said Stephenson, whose father, Alvin, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly less than 48 hours prior. “I know how hard that was for her, so I knew I had to step up and help this team out.”
During the timeout, she was comforted by head coach Tyler Tsukazaki.
“That entire timeout was just trying to console her and tell her the game’s not over yet, it’s still a close game,” Tsukazaki said. “I don’t know how she found a way to compose herself, but she did.”
A minute later, Stephenson scored on a putback to put Kalani back in front, 32-31. Then later, she scored on a running bank shot to make it 35-33 with 3:20 left. Then in the game’s closing seconds, with the Falcons clinging to a 42-40 lead, Stephenson hustled and chased down a missed free throw rebound, leaped out of bounds in front of her own bench and passed the ball with one hand to teammate Kylie Awakuni, who then made two free throws to seal the victory with 0:04.2 showing on the clock.
“I wanted to make sure we had this win in the bag, and I knew that save was very important,” Stephenson said. “So I made sure I took my time when I saved it and passed it to my teammate, instead of the defender. And Kylie really helped us win this game with those free throws. She really stepped up.”
Kalani led 14-9 after one period, 20-14 at halftime and 24-14 early in the third after Baker’s layup 90 seconds in. But Coryn Doss answered with a layup to ignite an 8-0 run capped by her layup to close it to 24-22 midway through the period. The Falcons led, 28-26, heading into the fourth but Stroman later swished her 3 to give Radford a brief 31-30 lead.
“I’m proud of our team, they played with heart and gave us a chance to win,” Rams coach Charles Chong said. “The little things are what matter — the free throws, the crucial rebounds, making close shots … all those things add up. We gotta learn from this. Props to (the Falcons), they stepped up when they needed it. Hats off to them, that’s what good teams do: when your best players go down, you pick it up. Good job for Kalani.”
Raine Chinen swished a crucial 3-pointer from the right corner to give the Falcons some breathing room at 38-33 with 1:38 remaining, then did it again with another 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 41-36 with 54 seconds to go.
“Those were huge, especially in a game like tonight when both teams were struggling to score,” Tsukazaki said. “We had a couple of our second unit players — Hasina Robinson and Kylie Awakuni — come in and step up. Hasina got some good offensive rebounds, and Kylie hit those tough free throws down the stretch. Alina basically carried us in the first half, and Angel carried us for most of the second half. And Mia Garvin is our captain, she’s been leading us all year.”
Speaking like a coach’s daughter — dad Alvin, who played at Hawai’i Pacific University, was a former Division II boys state championship head coach at Damien — Angel Stephenson said it was a true team victory.
“Those 3’s (by Chinen) were really major, the guards have been working on their shots every practice for these types of games, when it really matters most,” Stephenson said. “And Hasina, Kylie, Raine, Mia … all of our team, even the people who didn’t play were like a major part of this win. I think we all worked hard together to make this happen.”