Girls basketball

Kyra Tanabe connected on three treys and finished with 14 points as No. 1 ‘Iolani overwhelmed No. 10 Sacred Hearts 67-33 at Dorothy Macy Gymnasium on Monday night. It was the regular-season opener in Interscholastic League of Honolulu play. Tanabe shot 5-for-6 from the field and picked two steals. As a team, the visiting Raiders had 14 steals, using their sticky man-to-man defense to stifle the home team from start to finish. Lily Lefotu Wahinekapu added 12 points on 5-for-9 […]

It’s far from unanimous, but the ‘Iolani Raiders have plenty of believers statewide. Coaches and media voted ‘Iolani No. 1 in today’s season-opening Star-Advertiser Girls Basketball Top 10 poll. Led by Taylor Wu and Lily Lefotu Wahinekapu, the run-and-gun Raiders are undefeated through nonconference play and open the season tonight at Sacred Hearts. ‘Iolani received three first-place votes. Four-time defending state champion Konawaena opens its nonconference slate this week with a homecourt tourney at Col. Ellison Onizuka Gymnasium. The ‘Cats […]

Jalen Tanuvasa felt the fatigue. The Maryknoll guard wasn’t the only one. The Spartans came out against Kaimuki shooting air balls at the start, but Tanuvasa sparked a 20-4 run as the run-and-gun Spartans rolled to a 75-32 win at Clarence T.C. Ching Gymnasium on Thursday night. Lilly Koki added nine of her 12 points before halftime and Kyla Neumann tallied 11 points, al in the first half. Kaelyn Espinda led Kaimuki (3-1) with 16 points. Over the weekend, Maryknoll […]

Just five practices into the new season, the Kamehameha Warriors had some things to figure out, just like any other girls basketball team. Three games later, they’re finding their footing. Fast pace. Just a blur. Bombs away in transition and bombs away in patient, precise halfcourt offense. Kalina Obrey hasn’t posted up quite as often as she did as a junior and sophomore, but her ability to knock down the 3 makes her essentially a stretch 5 now, and that […]

The old saying is Rome was not built in a day. Neither is any basketball team just one week into the preseason, so all expectations and hopes for the Lady Falcons of Kalani can be tempered. Just a little. The defending OIA Division I champions notched their first and only win in the Matsumoto Law Group McKinley Black and Gold Classic on Monday, pulling away from Mid-Pacific 54-39. It was another energetic effort by freshman point guard Kalena Halunajan, who […]

For much of preseason basketball history, top teams from the Interscholastic League of Honolulu are ahead of the curve. Midseason form, not quite, but private-school programs are usually further ahead than their counterparts from the public-school Oahu Interscholastic Association. That was made clear at the Matsumoto Law Group McKinley Black and Gold Classic. The four-day tourney closed out on Monday night with the ILH taking 13 of 15 games against OIA and Maui Interscholastic League competition. Against the OIA, the […]

Five games in a 40-hour span didn’t faze this team. By Monday night, the Maryknoll Spartans were still perfect. A 62-36 win over host McKinley at the Matsumoto Law Group Black and Gold Classic closed the book on the tourney for this season. Maryknoll went deep, as expected, to pick up its seventh win in seven outings. Even with a Sunday break, the toll of multiple games in two concurrent tournaments tested their legs and gave reserves valuable minutes on […]

Chemistry is more than a class, and the ‘Iolani Raiders have mastered it already. The Raiders played without Taylor Wu, who is on a recruiting trip, and injured Tori Maeda, but still overwhelmed Kalani 68-49 on Saturday afternoon at the Matsumoto Law Group McKinley Black and Gold Classic. Lily Lefotu Wahinekapu exploded for 21 points, including a clutch wing 3 in the third quarter to stymie a comeback attempt by the Lady Falcons. Alexis Huntimer was red-hot in the first […]