HONOLULU — Four-time defending state girls basketball champion Iolani has a new weapon: Justice.

Freshman guard Justice Kekauoha scored 15 points and dealt six assists as the Raiders defeated Kamehameha, 54-45, in the teams’ first meeting in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu regular season at Iolani on Friday night.

Behind Kekauoha, the Raiders (2-0 ILH) had more assists (12) than turnovers (nine). It was the first of four regular-season meetings against Kamehameha (2-1) in the ILH regular season. Iolani and Kamehameha have the early positioning to vie for the league title this year; the two are a combined 3-0 against the ILH’s only other Division I team, Punahou.

“I feel like we’re good so far but I know we can be better, and hopefully we go to the championship, but we have to earn it,” Kekauoha, who shot 6-for-9 from the field, told Spectrum OC16’s Jimmy Bender. “We just have to keep working hard.”

Six Iolani players sank a 3-pointer on a highly efficient outside-shooting game for coach Dean Young’s group – 8-for-18, 44.4%.

Coach Pua Straight’s Warriors went to work inside to try to counter Iolani’s outside shots. The Warriors’ top threat, center Nihoaokealii Dunn, scored 12 points on 6-for-11 shooting.

“The intensity was very harsh and I feel like we just needed to help on the bigs, like the backside, because Nihoa was really good in the post, so we had to stop her,” Kekauoha said.

Iolani led 24-21 at the half and began to pull away in the third, winning the period by six points. Kamehameha got it to three with 2:31 left on a pair of free throws by Makenzie Alapai, but Iolani’s Keiki McGee delivered two 3-pointers to put the game away. McGee and Hailey Fernandez scored 10 apiece for the Raiders.

The teams will rematch Jan. 16 at Kekuhaupio Gym; both face Punahou in their next games on Tuesday (Iolani) and Thursday (Kamehameha).

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.