Kalina Obrey powered for 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Noelle Sua-Godinet added 10 points, six boards and three blocks as No. 5 Kamehameha overwhelmed No. 10 Punahou 54-25 on Tuesday night at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.
Kamehameha finished Interscholastic League of Honolulu regular-season play 7-3 (13-5 overall), two games behind first-place ‘Iolani. With Maryknoll’s win over Sacred Hearts tonight, the Warriors and Spartans will have a tiebreaker playoff game for second place. The top two teams in the ILH will receive byes in the upcoming playoffs.
The Warriors were scarcely challenged on Punahou’s senior night. The experienced visitors opened with a 12-0 lead and coasted to victory, dominating the boards 24-11 in the first half.
“We had trouble boxing out in our last game (against Maryknoll), so we did a lot of box-out drills at practice,” Obrey said.
Coach Pua Straight was pleased with the fast, tough and physical play of her team.
“Against Maryknoll, we were outrebounded, so we wanted to make sure our bigs box out on every possession,” she said. “We box out every day.”
Tara Kaneshiro led Punahou (10-5, 5-5 ILH) with six points. The home team shot 9-for-60 (15 percent) from the field against Kamehameha’s stingy man-to-man defense. Kamehameha shot 49 percent from the field (22 for 45) and finished with a 42-33 edge on the glass.
The one positive statistically for the Buffanblu: Punahou forced Kamehameha into 21 turnovers.
At Hemmeter Fieldhouse
Kamehameha (13-5, 7-3 ILH) 17 12 11 14 — 54
Punahou (10-5, 5-5 ILH) 5 8 2 10 — 25
KS: Malie Marfil 2, Esther Naum 0, Haley Masaki 5, Camille Feary 4, Tehani Malterre 2, Alize Pratt 6, Noelle Sua-Godinet 10, Kalina Obrey 16, Kaylee-Brooke Manuel 7, Kalista Kahoekapu 0.
PUN: Caitlyn Andrade-Tomimoto 1, Aleah Liilii 3, Kiarra Young 0, Taylor Hange 4, Hanna Urbano 3, Tara Kaneshiro 6, Melody Lum 0, Tatianna Burciaga-Reyes 0, Sina Uluave 2, Chloe Kaahanui 2, Heaven Hense-Dorroh 0, Tama Fonoti 4.
3-point goals: KS 2 (Masaki, Obrey), PUN 2 (Urbano, Kaneshiro).
The ILH is simple this year: Iolani is cream of the crop and if Pua doesn’t blow it Kamehamaha is 2nd if they can slow down the scorer known as Jalen Tanuvasa.
Wow, was a tough game but what did you expect. Two great teams!
Maryknoll vs Kamehameha