It was a tale of two halves for Waiakea, which shared the ball against Mililani in the first 16 minutes and not so much in the second half.
However, the Warriors were poised enough to prevail against the Trojans 55-42 in the first round of the HHSAA Division I tournament Monday at their gym.
The Warriors (11-2) next play No. 4 seed Lahainaluna (12-2) in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. Thursday at Moanalua High’s gym on Oahu.
BIIF champion and No. 2 seed Konawaena (12-0) plays MIL runner-up King Kekaulike (11-5) in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Thursday at Kalani High’s gym on Oahu.
The Warriors jumped on the Trojans early. They outscored the visitors 19-4 in the first period to grab a 34-17 halftime lead.
Keeli-Jade Smith scored 15 points, including 13 in the first half, on 6 of 11 shooting, Destynee Williams scored 13 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and Kelsie Imai had 10 points, five assists, two blocks, and three steals for Waiakea, which shot 46 percent from the field, including 5 of 1 from 3-point range.
Bethany Honma had an efficient game with seven points on 3 of 4 shooting, five assists and no turnovers, and two steals.
The Warriors had good ball-sharing numbers with 16 assists against 14 turnovers.
Smith guarded 5-foot-9 Kianna Ponce, Mililani’s top scorer with 12 points per game, and held her to 10 points. Kayla Tansiongco led the way with 12 points, and Kylie Bagay had 10 points for the Trojans, who shot 45 percent, including 2 of 13 from long distance.
“It was good. It was up and up and competitive,” Smith said. “It’s great to get the first game out of the way. I wanted to compete every time to have a chance to go up to the next level.”
Waiakea hammered Lahainaluna 51-35 at Konawaena’s preseason tournament in December.
The Lunas are sort of like Konawaena, except for the lack of state titles. They’ve captured the last 15 MIL titles but won only one state championship, back in 2010. The Wildcats had a 10-year BIIF reign snapped by Waiakea last season and have won nine state titles.
“They’re very disciplined and well-coached,” said Waiakea coach Alika Smith, no relation to Keeli-Jade. “They run their stuff, take good shots and play defense. It won’t be easy. You’ve got the eight best teams, and they’re all deserving to be there. We have to put things together and hopefully we can compete.”
Despite a 20-point halftime lead, the Warriors shot 8 of 20 from the field in the second half, and Mililani outscored them 25-21 in the final 16 minutes.
“It was a tale of two halves. We played really well in the first half,” Alika Smith said. “In the second half, there was too much one-on-one.”
Then the first-year coach joked about his iPhone generation kids.
“I think the kids get bored with success and want to make it interesting,” he said.
The Trojans put down their iPhones and tried to make it interesting. But they couldn’t get a stop after scoring. Waiakea’s counterattack was too good.
In the third quarter, Waiakea led 42-24 with 3:22 to go. Then Mililani closed the quarter with an 8-0 run. Ponce scored off a turnover, Qiera Tyrell and Tansiongco banked in layups, and Chastiy Jackon scored in the paint.
The Trojans were experts at running in transition and banking the ball of the glass for easy layups.
There was only one problem. It’s tough to pickpocket the Warriors. Mililani had five steals; Waiakea had 12 steals.
The Warriors still led 42-32 heading into the final eight minutes.
In the fourth period, Bagay swished a 3-pointer to cut Waiakea’s lead to 44-37 with 5:40 remaining.
Williams buried a 3-pointer to quickly answer. Then the Warriors ran a fast-break drill on Mililani. Honma dribbled and dished to Imai, who scored to push the score to 49-37 with 4:09 left.
The Warriors never let the Trojans trim the score to a single digit, and after the game was over the Waiakea players got on their iPhones to tell their parents they’re headed to Oahu to hunt the Lunas.
“It’s going to be tough,” Alika Smith said. “If we get past Lahainaluna, then we’ll probably get (No. 1 seed) Iolani and then Konawaena is in the other bracket.”
But who knows? If the Warriors reach the state championship, that’ll definitely be interesting and worth getting on their iPhones.