Sometimes, defense isn’t the only main ingredient needed to win a championship. Other things are necessary, too, such as ball-handing and free-throw shooting.
Sometimes, defense isn’t the only main ingredient needed to win a championship. Other things are necessary, too, such as ball-handing and free-throw shooting.
Kamehameha was better at all three and toppled Kohala 57-48 in the BIIF Division II girls basketball championship on Saturday, securing its first title since 2013.
The Warriors (8-4) and Cowgirls (7-5) have the league’s berths to the HHSAA state tournament, which will be held Feb. 10-13 at the Keaau and Waiakea gyms.
Saydee Aganus scored 13 points, Hera Salmeron added 11 points off the bench, and Jordyn Mantz had eight points for the Warriors, who shot 43 percent (19 of 44) from the field.
“We played really good defense. We had strong pressure and came back with a man defense,” said Aganus, who attacked the rim and made 5 of 7 free throws. “We started slow, but when Hera came in she knocked down shots. Then we started to get the ball to Mantz and Sully. They’re strong in the post.”
Mikayla Kekoa scored 15 points, Naai Solomon-Lewis 12 and Brittany Shimono added eight points for the Cowgirls, who converted 42 percent (18 of 43) from the floor.
With Honokaa in Division I and key Kohala starters Briana Harrison, Tezrah Antonio and Solomon-Lewis all seniors, the Warriors have the great potential to collect a string of BIIF championships, like their six-year title run from 2008 to ’13.
Throw in the fact that the Warriors are really, really young and blessed with a large roster The only seniors are guards Caitlin Poe and Gabrielle Victor. Their only junior starter is Aganus, one of 15 players.
Compared to Kamehameha’s BIIF title history, the Cowgirls date back to the beginning of time, at least to the inaugural year of the HHSAA state tournament in 1977, but they have only three banners.
Kohala won its first BIIF championship in 1977, when the state tournament was an eight-team field. The Cowgirls repeated as the BIIF champion in 1978 and placed fourth at states, where they were joined by St. Joseph.
Then the Cowgirls captured their last BIIF championship in 1981 and took the consolation title at the state tournament.
A decade later, Kohala joined BIIF champion Hilo and Honokaa at the 12-team state tournament in 1991. That was the last trip until a pair of appearances at the Division II state tournament in 2013 and ’14. (Statewide classification started in 2004.)
It’s been a long time, 35 years to be exact, since the Cowgirls have had an opportunity to play for the BIIF championship, one reason the Kohala faithful came out strong and loud.
The biggest question mark would be: How would Kohala handle Kamehameha’s pressure?
The answer: Too many turnovers — 23 in all, including three straight giveaways when Kamehameha led 51-48 with 58.1 seconds remaining. Kamehameha had 20 turnovers, including eight in the fourth quarter, and outscored Kohala off giveaways only 4-0.
That pretty much kept the Cowgirls in the game, despite their struggles from the free throw line. They went 9 of 22 while the Warriors went 16 of 29, working the ball inside and drawing fouls. For math majors, 55 percent beats 41 percent every day of the week.
The Warriors’ depth also proved most helpful.
They can play pressure defense and go to their deep bench when someone gets in foul trouble. If a player is having a bad day shooting the ball, there are others licking their chops waiting to get in the game. (Salmeron was that player.)
Kamehameha led 32-24 at halftime, and Kohala was rather fortunate that the deficit wasn’t much bigger.
The Cowgirls committed 15 turnovers in the first half, but the Warriors only scored four points off all those giveaways.
Kohala started with its big lineup with 5-foot-10 freshman center Kekoa. She made an immediate impact with 10 points in the first half. She’s a strong presence under the boards, and when she was fed the ball she powered high-percentage shots in.
When the Warriors applied a full-court press, Kohala’s press-break offense went into high gear, moving the ball and getting it to Solomon-Lewis, who delivered three assists under the basket to Kekoa in the first half.
Still, the Cowgirls hurt themselves with far too many turnovers, which led to too many empty possessions, and it was the same thing at the line with too many missed free points.
In the first quarter, Kamehameha kept missing long-range shots, until Salmeron came off the bench. She scored eight points in the second quarter, drilling two 3-pointers, dropping in a layup and providing a timely jolt of energy and a 27-22 lead with under a minute left until halftime.
“I told myself there was no time to be nervous,” Salmeron said. “I was ready, and I knew I had to do it for my team. We started off slow and I thought the key was just to get the momentum going,” said Salmeron, who did just that.
Kamehameha 7 25 11 14 — 57
Kohala 8 16 12 12 — 48