It took a while but Hilo’s defensive brilliance really started to shine in the third quarter in a key showdown against Honokaa.
Hilo scored a bunch of points off turnovers and toppled Honokaa 46-25 in a BIIF Division I basketball game on Tuesday night at the Vikings Gym.
Sharlei Graham-Bernisto and Mandi Kawaha were stellar on both ends of the floor for Hilo, which forced 24 Dragons turnovers and outscored the visitors off giveaways 17-0.
The Vikings had 12 turnovers, and obviously none were the least bit harmful.
Graham-Bernisto scored 16 points and Kawaha added 14 to lead the Vikings (9-0), who shot 47 percent (16 of 34) from the field.
Kizzah Maltezo scored 10 points to lead the Dragons (7-2), who converted 37 percent (11 of 30) from the floor, going cold in the second half, hitting just 4 of 16 field goals.
With the win, Hilo can look forward to its monster battle against seven-time BIIF defending champion Konawaena (9-0) on Friday at home.
The Wildcats are carrying a league record 89-game winning streak.
They last lost to Waiakea for the BIIF title in 2008.
The BIIF regular season champion claims the league’s automatic berth to the HHSAA state tournament. If teams have tied records, both state spots will be available at the four-team BIIF playoffs, which will be held next Friday and Saturday.
With the Vikings slightly ahead 15-14 at halftime, they scored 11 points off five Honokaa turnovers to open the third quarter.
What was most impressive was how Hilo forced the turnovers. Sometimes, it was individual effort, and sometimes it was teamwork.
In the third quarter, Graham-Bernisto pressed Honokaa’s ball-handler and once the ball hit the floor Kawaha flew in, poked the ball away and soared for a layup. Then Graham-Bernisto followed with a steal of her own and scored another layup.
After Maltezo hit a jump shot, Hilo’s tag team worked again for another layup by Kawaha, a shifty sophomore guard. The Viks led 29-20 and had seized the lion’s share of momentum.
Then in the fourth quarter, Graham-Bernisto, who sank two 3-pointers in the first half, started to attack the rim. The senior guard scored on consecutive layups to give Hilo a 39-22 cushion with less than seven minutes remaining.
The first half was a low-scoring, defensive affair, and Hilo took a 15-14 lead into the break when Graham-Bernisto buried a 3-pointer with under three seconds.
The Vikings forced 12 turnovers in the first half. That part of their game plan worked but scored just five points off the giveaways, a Kawaha layup and Graham-Bernisto’s other 3-pointer.
Graham-Bernisto had eight points, and Kawaha had four points in the first half. Lexi Pana picked up two fouls in the first quarter and sat much of the first half; she finished with three points.
Despite the high amount of turnovers, the Dragons were on fire when they held onto the ball. They went 7 of 14 from the field in the in first half, often deftly passing in the post for high-percentage shots.
Maltezo and Kawena Kaohimaunu had four points each. But the Dragons’ offense dried up in the second half, and they didn’t help themselves with their turnovers.
The Dragons hosted the Wildcats, who were without Chanelle Molina (sprained ankle) and down to seven players, on Jan. 12 and lost 45-22. Honokaa had all sorts of trouble against Kona’s tenacious ball pressure from Mikayla Tablit and Cherilyn Molina and struggled to find clean looks.
It was basically a repeat against the Vikings, who shop for the same bread and butter at the basketball grocery store: man press defense, transition layups, and an extra pass to turn a good shot into a better one.
In Graham-Bernisto, the Viks have an elite on-ball perimeter defender on the same level as Tablit and the Molina sisters, Cherilyn and Chanelle. The common denominator among them is quickness in all the important defensive areas: anticipation, hands, and, most important, feet.
The best ones disrupt an opposing team’s rhythm, picking a point guard’s pocket, getting into passing lanes, and trapping vulnerable ball-handlers. That’s something the league’s Elite 4 routinely do.
For the Dragons, the two-time defending BIIF Division II and state champion, they picked an unfortunate time to jump to Division I because Kona and Hilo are on legacy missions. Not to mention the fact that there are only two state seats in the musical chairs fight with three really good teams. (Greatness comes when teams get crowned.)
Wildcat seniors Chanelle Molina and IHI Victor want to continue the league record winning streak started by Lia Galdeira and Dawnyelle Awa, 2012 graduates, and follow in their footsteps with back-to-back state titles.
Viking seniors Pana, Graham-Bernisto, Shalyn Guthier and Katie Loeak would love nothing more than to knock Konawaena off its BIIF throne and go down in league history as the team to do so.
Of course, if the Dragons clean up a few things and play a better brand of ball-control, anything can happen during the BIIF postseason, where a pen is always waiting for someone to write their own history.
In the junior varsity game, Honokaa beat Hilo 37-35.
Honokaa 6 8 6 5 — 25
Hilo 4 11 16 15 — 46
Pahoa 44, Hawaii Prep 21: Alyssa Padilla came through with 19 points and the host Daggers’ first victory of the season put them in position to grab the final playoff berth in Division II.
Ka Makani (0-8) must win either against Kohala on Thursday or Saturday at Keaau to force a play-in game against Pahoa (1-9) for the final spot.
Coco Shafer led HPA with five points.
HPA 6 4 5 6 –21
Pahoa 10 14 4 13 –44
Waiakea 50, Kealakehe 34: The Warriors won at home to secure the final playoff spot in Division I.
As the fourth seed, Waiakea (5-4) will play either Konawaena or Hilo on Feb. 5 in the BIIF semifinals.
The Waveriders slipped to 3-6.
Kohala 50, Keaau 41: Naai Solomon-Lewis filled out the box score with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists in Kapaau for the Cowgirls, who ended a three-game losing streak and retained their hopes of earning the No. 1 seed in the Division II playoffs.
Kamehameha (6-3) can clinch the regular-season title and an automatic HHSAA berth with a win at Honokaa on Friday. A Warriors loss and a win by Kohala (5-6) against HPA on Thursday would send Kamehameha to the No. 2 seed.
Hunter Muranaka had 13 points in the loss for the Lady Cougars (3-6) who were eliminated from Division I postseason consideration.
In the JV contest, Kohala won 50-14.
