Girls basketball

The last time the St. Francis Saints won the ILH girls basketball championship, well, they weren’t even the Saints. Back then, they were the Troubadours, which is only fitting. With a dramatic, sometimes poetic 47-43 win over No. 10-ranked Hawaii Baptist on Saturday afternoon, No. 6 St. Francis captured its first league crown since 2001. In other words, the four senior Saints were still in diapers. “Our seniors, the four of us working together, our whole team jelled together and […]

Kaiser’s magical season isn’t quite over. The Lady Cougars fell 51-28 in OIA quarterfinal play at Mililani on Wednesday night, but they can qualify for the state tournament with a win over Leilehua. Kaiser, a very young team with just two seniors, was cold from the field from start to finish. Mililani switched from man to 2-3 zone defense after one quarter and the move worked out for the Trojans. Kaiser shot 2-for-11 from the field against the zone and […]

With a state-tournament berth on the line, the Lady Trojans of Mililani played one of their best games of the season. A 51-28 win over Kaiser was soured, however, by a potential season-ending injury to senior Kalena Gibson. The lanky forward fell under the backboard on a fastbreak drive during the third quarter and suffered what might be an ACL injury, interim head coach Francis Dagan said. Her value as a the team’s lockdown defensive stopper could be a major […]

It was a clash of two hot teams in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I playoffs. Kapolei had a defensive strategy to stifle Moanalua. The visiting Hurricanes just couldn’t take care of the ball. Moanalua forced the ‘Canes into 25-percent shooting and 30 turnovers for a 38-22 win on Tuesday night. Moanalua, the fourth-place team from the East, advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I girls basketball playoffs. Kapolei, the fifth-place team from the West, […]

Kamehameha’s loss to ‘Iolani by a substantial margin (15 points) led to a major shuffle among the top five in the Star-Advertiser Girls Basketball Top 10 this week. Here’s how I voted in the poll, along with my list of Top 35 teams regardless of classification. (All win-loss records as of Saturday, Jan. 13.) Pupule BKG Top 10 01/14/18 1. Maryknoll Spartans (22-2, 8-0 ILH) 2. St. Francis Saints (20-0, 12-0 ILH D-II) 3. Lahainaluna Lunas (19-4, 10-0 MIL D-I) […]

For the seventh week in a row, the Maryknoll Spartans are the unanimous pick by coaches and media as the No. 1 team in the Star-Advertiser Girls Basketball Top 10. The Spartans repelled Mid-Pacific 64-44, then-No. 2 Kamehameha 45-36 and Punahou 60-26 last week. Maryknoll is 8-0 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu (22-2 overall) and has clinched at least a tie for first place in the regular season. Maryknoll can seal first place and an automatic state-tournament berth with […]

Chico Furtado is not quite quite Santa Claus, at least not on the basketball court. In the moments after No. 1 Maryknoll pulled out a tough 45-36 win over No. 2 Kamehameha — at Kekuhaupio Gymnasium — that elusive perfect performance eluded the Lady Spartans. So what’s new? Even at 21-2 overall, 7-0 in Interscholastic League of Honolulu play, moving one big step closer to an automatic state-tournament berth, Maryknoll didn’t have the consistency its grizzled coach seeks. The difference, […]

The shuffling is something strangely fascinating. At the top, Maryknoll, Kamehameha and most of the Top 10 is entrenched at this moment. Upsets happen, things change. But below the 10, wow. Doing a Top 35 list has been a microscope on more than half the teams that play girls basketball statewide. It’s awfully time consuming, yet satisfying. And Lord knows it’s just scratching the surface. A few teams are on the decline. A few are swinging back up. Mililani? Talented, […]