PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — In the span of a few hours Wednesday, two schools achieved a first at Radford’s Jim Alegre Gymnasium.
With gritty performances in games in which scoring came at a premium, Campbell and Kailua reached the summit of Oahu Interscholastic League girls basketball and took home respective Division I and Division II plaques. The Sabers and Surfriders earned seeded berths into the two tiers of upcoming HHSAA tournaments.
The first-timers accomplished the feat following a 2021 season wiped out by pandemic protocols.
Campbell coach Jazmine Corpuz was swept away in celebration outside of the gym, mirroring the energy the Sabers enjoyed from a few hundred Campbell fans who supplied deafening noise throughout.
“I’m speechless. I’m just so proud of them. That’s all I can tell you,” Corpuz said.
Campbell jumped out fast against Mililani — another school seeking its first OIA girls hoops crown — and rode its effective man-to-man defense the rest of the way for a 37-26 win.
Junior guard Julien Parado led the way at both ends with 13 points, nine rebounds, five blocks and three steals. Sophomore guard Aliyah Bantolina added seven points, six rebounds, three blocks and three assists.
“It’s definitely amazing,” Parado said. “I don’t think we imagined coming here this year, especially after COVID. But with our new team coming up, we had the chemistry, we had the skill to be here, and we proved it tonight.”
She said that many of the players on the team played together in outside leagues during the lost COVID season in 2021, which helped with chemistry.
Campbell, with its effective slashing offense, jumped out to a 12-3 lead after a quarter and enjoyed a 20-10 advantage at halftime.
But Mililani opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run, including two baskets from Mahealani Choy Foo.
“The second half, we made some adjustments to pull them out and create some openings, and that helped, but we just couldn’t get over that hump,” Mililani coach Michael Oyama said. “At that point, we were probably pretty low on energy as well. Hats off to them, congrats to them, their coaches. They played pretty clean basketball the whole game.”
Campbell took a breath and settled back in for a 24-17 lead going to the fourth.
Parado boosted the lead to 10 with 2:30 remaining on an unconventional three-point play, in which she hit a free throw, missed the second, grabbed the rebound and stuck the putback herself.
Caitlyn Hosaka followed with a banked 3-pointer on Campbell’s next trip down to seal the outcome.
Guard Jovi Funakoshi and forward Akemi Kawamata led the Trojans with six points apiece, while forward Raini Mayo had nine rebounds.
About two hours earlier, Kailua’s young core did something no Surfrider girls hoops team had done before with a 31-24 defeat of Windward-side rival Kalaheo.
Coach Mandy Llamedo has been at it since 2012, including a 2013 OIA D-II title matchup that was similarly a Kailua-Kalaheo battle, but went the way of the Mustangs.
“I’m honestly relieved,” Llamedo said. “Going into this game, it was easy to get comfortable with where we were in the regular season. But that 2013 game was on my mind this whole time. To have a second chance at it, and to have the privilege to work with these girls has been an honor. They’re really fun, really energetic.” She laughed.
Kailua had a short bench this time and played five players nearly the entire way. But with freshman twins Myah and Miyah Galdeira pushing the pace, all five players had plenty of chances to score.
Myah Galdeira, the point guard, led Kailua with 12 points. Miyah Galdeira added seven and Saige Martinez eight.
Although Kailua won the regular-season matchup 46-27, Kalaheo had the better composure early in jumping out to a 6-1 lead. The Mustangs still led by a basket after a quarter.
“I think our struggles early on in the game came because we were almost trying too hard,” Llamedo said.
Kailua won the second period 11-4, including a highlight between the Galdeiras in which Miyah stole the ball, fed it to Myah in transition and got the ball back from her sister for a layup.
The Surfriders led 17-12 at halftime, and after an evenly played third quarter, Myah Galdeira scored a twisting layup to open the fourth. Laia Ribas scored inside for a six-point lead with 1:20 remaining and Kailua took care of the ball to close it out.
Kailua shot only marginally better from the field, 24% to Kalaheo’s 21%, but three 3-pointers for the Surfriders to one for the Mustangs made a huge difference in a low-scoring game.
“You win some and you lose some. This is one of the nights that shots weren’t going in for us,” Kalaheo coach Frank Palacat Jr. said in congratulating Kailua. “The previous time, we decided to run with them, to push them a little bit. They handled that wonderfully. They’re a young team, but they’re great at it. … This time we decided maybe we’d play a little more halfcourt game. Obviously we stayed with them at a point, but they just shot better.”
Forward Tyra Arends led the Mustangs with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Her frontcourt mate Jaelyn Jackson snared 14 rebounds.
Both Mililani and Kalaheo have earned berths in the respective D-I and D-II state tournaments, which begin Feb. 14 and 16.