Kapa‘a loses to No. 1 Radford in state semifinals

LIHU‘E — The top seed got the best of the Lady Warriors, Thursday night.

Kapa‘a lost its semifinal matchup against No. 1 Radford, 44-31, in the HHSAA Hawaiian Airlines Girls Basketball Division II Championship tournament at Farrington High School on O‘ahu.

The fourth-seeded Lady Warriors (11-4) could not deal Radford (16-0) its first loss of the season.

One more game still remains as Kapa‘a will take on Maryknoll in today’s third-place game, tipping off at 11 a.m. at the Blaisdell Center.

That matchup will be broadcast live on JAMZ 98.1.

The third quarter was the undoing for Kapa‘a, which battled Radford to an 18-18 tie at halftime. But a 15-5 Radford third period put Kapa‘a in a hole and it could not respond in the fourth quarter.

Mahea Hanie-Grace was the leading scorer for the Lady Warriors with 12 points, while senior guard Jessilyn Aki scored 11. Reggie McCabe, who scored 15 in Wednesday’s quarterfinal victory over Hawai‘i Baptist, was limited to four points.

Ka‘anoi Marshall and Katalina Fifita had two points apiece.

Hanie-Grace was also credited with a team-high six rebounds and continued her pesky defense with 10 steals, while McCabe notched three blocked shots.

Jemory Castro scored a game-high 14 for Radford, who also got 10 from Kelsey Bash. Imani Wimbush added nine, Korie Johnson scored eight, and Rachel Kapesi had three.

Johnson pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

Having won the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship, Kapa‘a entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed, receiving a bye into the quarterfinals.

It pulled out a 60-54 double-overtime win over Hawai‘i Baptist in Wednesday’s thriller, but came up short against a tough opponent, Thursday.

Kamehameha-Big Island, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, got past Maryknoll with a 56-39 win in the evening’s first game at Farrington.

Now Radford and Kamehameha-Big Island will square off for the Div. II championship at 5 p.m. tonight at the Blaisdell Center.

Kamehameha (13-4) was led by 17 points from Katelynne Paleka-Kennedy and Namele Naipo-Arsiga’s 15. Ashley Agcaoili led Maryknoll (13-3) with 12 points.

KS-Big Island jumped out to a 16-6 lead at the end of the first quarter, but led by just seven after three before a 20-10 fourth quarter sealed its place in the championship.

Division I championship bracket

Konawaena (16-0), the state’s top team, continued to roll through its bracket with a 60-29 win over ‘Iolani (13-4) in the Division I semifinal at the Blaisdell Center.

Lia Galdeira led the winning side with 16 points and eight rebounds as nine different players scored for Konawaena.

Kylie Maeda scored 13 to lead ‘Iolani.

No. 3 seed Punahou (12-2) outlasted No. 2 seed Lahainaluna (13-1) on Thursday, 52-47, dealing the Lunas their first loss of the season.

It will be hoping to continue that trend in tonight’s championship game against Konawaena. The Div. I title game will be the nightcap at the Blaisdell Center, set for a 7 p.m. tip.

Punahou’s Hailey Ann Maeda led her side with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Maiki Viela scored 32 points for Lahainaluna, going 12-of-27 from the field and 4-of-13 from the three-point arc.

Consolation bracket

Kalani (14-5) won the consolation final with a narrow 49-48 edge over Hanalani (10-8). Hanalani finishes in eighth place.

In the fifth-place semifinals, Hawai‘i Prep (11-6) was a 45-35 winner over Hawai‘i Baptist (13-3). HPA will now take on University (13-3) in today’s fifth-place game. University beat Moloka‘i (12-2) by a 45-29 final, Thursday. That game will tip off at 9 a.m. at the Blaisdell Center.

Waiakea (15-2) was a 52-47 winner over Kaimuki (10-10) in the Div. I consolation final.

Farrington (16-3) came away with a 58-52 win over Kaiser (13-6) to move into the fifth-place game today.

Its opponent will be Kahuku (10-10), which took out Kapolei (17-4) by a 46-29 final score.

The Farrington-Kahuku game is at 1 p.m.