‘Iolani claims fourth straight ILH girls basketball crown

The four-peat took everything the ‘Iolani Raiders could muster.

No. 3 ‘Iolani played perhaps its best first half of the season and used a balanced attack to overcome No. 8 Kamehameha 38-25 for the ILH girls basketball championship on Thursday night at Father Bray Athletic Center.

Senior Haylie-Anne Ohta tallied 12 points, connecting for three 3-pointers, while junior Mele Sake hustled for 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Raiders (21-9 overall).

“I’m very proud of our team. I feel like we progressed a lot this season through the ups and downs,” Ohta said.

Paige Oh added nine points for ‘Iolani, which has won the past three Division I state titles.

“It’s a championship atmosphere. You could just feel the intensity, the tension. You could cut it with a knife, that’s how thick it was,” ‘Iolani coach Dean Young said.

Kamehameha (20-12 overall) had a gritty effort all week, playing four tournament games in four nights. The Warriors defeated Damien, ‘Iolani and Maryknoll to capture the tournament (round two), setting up a showdown with regular-season winner ‘Iolani.

Nihoa Dunn, a 6-foot-1 freshman, led the gritty Warriors with nine points and 10 rebounds.

“We’re super proud of this group,” Warriors coach Pua Straight said. “We still had high expectations for this game and, obviously, we’re a little bit disappointed that we weren’t able to come out with it, but we’re super happy with what we’ve been able to do this week. ‘Iolani was firing on all cylinders today for sure. They were fresh, running the court well. Hard to stop.”

Fatigue was a factor. Kamehameha shot 25 percent from the field (10-for-40) while ‘Iolani shot 48 percent (12-for-25).

“The silver lining to us losing (on Tuesday) is we got to rest, we got to practice, and the other teams didn’t, and we still had homecourt advantage,” Young said.

The Warriors were cold from long range: 0-for-11 from the arc in the first half.

Sake, who was exhausted in the Tuesday game against Kamehameha, was fully recharged on Thursday. She had eight points, five rebounds, two assists and a block in the first 16 minutes.

After a defensive stalemate in the opening minutes, Ohta hit a wing 3, and Sake splashed a corner 3 off a pass from Ohta. Moments later, Ohta sank a 3 off the dribble in transition to open the lead to 14-5.

Sake’s backdoor layup on a feed from Callie Pieper opened the lead to 12 points before the second quarter.

After ‘Iolani opened the second quarter with two free throws by Sake and a 10-foot runner in the lane by Ohta, it was 20-5.

‘Iolani was awarded the top seed in the Heide & Cook/HHSAA State Championships and has a first-round bye before playing on Wednesday.

“We need the rest,” Young added. “We welcome the rest.”

A league title in the post-Lily Wahinekapu/Jovi Lefotu/Jaety Mandaquit era is something the Raiders will relish.

“We just proved to ourselves we can do it even if we don’t have a Jovi (Lefotu) or Jaety (Mandaquit),” Ohta said.

Lefotu was All-State Player of the Year before graduating in 2022, while Mandaquit was an All-State selection as a sophomore before moving to Utah.

“It’s definitely different. I think people counted us possibly out after Jovi graduated and Jaety moved,” Young said. “And then we lost to Maryknoll, and lost two of our starters (Abby Tanaka, Keiki McGee). To do it with this crew is super rewarding.”