HONOLULU — You come at the queens, you best not miss.
Last weekend, the Iolani girls basketball team set a new standard in state girls basketball with a record fifth consecutive Heide & Cook/HHSAA Division I championship at the Blaisdell Arena.
By surviving some unfulfilled chances by Kamehameha in a 39-38 overtime victory, Dean Young’s program surpassed Kapalama from 1990 to 1993 and Konawaena from 2015 to 2018 for the longest run of consecutive titles in state tournament history, which began in 1977.
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It equaled Iolani’s memorable boys basketball streak under Mark Mugiishi from 2002 to 2006, and was the school’s ninth overall on the girls side.
“It’s such a testament to the girls who have come through our program and have built the culture of championship DNA. These girls just expect it,” said Young, who along with assistant coach Cy Ohta has presided over the run of titles that began in 2019 and included a gap year in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They believe it, they trust it, they expect to win every year. That’s just part of the culture now.”
After the loss of two playmaking guards from its 2022 title team, Paige Oh and Haylie-Anne Ohta, and a lingering knee injury to post Mele Sake, the Raiders adapted and got key production from new sources when it mattered most.
That was personified by junior guard Mia Frye, who embraced her emerging role as a mid-range threat and scored in double figures in all three games of the Raiders’ run to the title, earning tournament Most Outstanding Player honors.
She put in 13 points in the championship on 6-for-9 shooting. As was the case all tournament, Frye was lethal on quick flashes to the high post for jumpers.
“I feel like my role did change (from) last year. I was more of a role player,” Frye said amid a throng of celebrating Raiders on the Blaisdell court. “We had super strong guards, Paige Oh and Hailey Ohta. And we had a fully healthy Mele and she was going off last year. They did a lot for us. My role was to kind of to play defense and not turn it over, be a casual role player. I feel like this year, losing them was a big thing, so I had to step it up a little bit. I did my best to try.”
Frye nailed a 3-pointer in the first minute of overtime. That was just enough to stand up as the Warriors drew within a point on a basket by Alemaualii Fonoti.
Mele Sake was the tournament Most Outstanding Player in 2023. But nursing a knee injury throughout the 2024 season, she leaned into her skills as a rebounder and enforcer.
"Me and Callie (forward Pieper) talked it out," Sake said. "We knew what we were going to do. Thinking about this quote, ‘offense sells tickets, defense wins games, and rebounding wins championships,’ really putting that into my head really helped."
Then were was freshman wing Justice Kekauoha, who went out with an ankle injury in the title game but returned to finish it out. She scored in double figures in Iolani’s wins over Campbell and Lahainaluna.
“We worked so hard for this,” Kekauoha said. “We just knew that we were going to win because we know we earned it. It was just a team thing and we all just had the energy and our adrenaline was just pumping.”
Kekauoha, likely the future face of the program, said she did not feel the pressure to keep alive Iolani’s streak in the moment of the game.
But it certainly became too close for comfort against an opponent that the Raiders (12-0) had already defeated five times in the course of Interscholastic League of Honolulu Play.
“I just know we have to work hard throughout this whole summer and bounce back and make sure this game doesn’t happen again,” Kekauoha said.
Iolani’s title run began in 2019, when a long game-tying 3 by Kamehameha’s Kalina Obrey was waved off at the buzzer after a review. Sister stars Lily Wahinekapu and Jovi Lefotu carried the torch on either side of the COVID pandemic.
Last weekend’s finish was nearly as dramatic as 2019. Kamehameha coach Pua Straight went big, with twin posts Nihoakealii Dunn (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Fonoti, to help her team rally back from a nine-point halftime deficit. Warriors guard Rylee Paranada hit a game-tying 3 in front of the Warriors’ bench with a minute left in the fourth quarter.
Iolani players and coaches agreed they got the hardest punch of the season from Kamehameha (6-7).
Straight said her core group of the last few years has made steady progress.
“We lost to them five times during the regular season. And this was the one that we really wanted, and we knew this was the one that mattered at the end, and I think they were hungry for it, especially once we got loose,” Straight said. “They went after balls, they were on the ground, so I’m definitely proud of the effort. I think in the second half, they left it all out on the court.”
Both teams had chances to win in both regulation and overtime with the teams exchanging turnovers in the final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter.
Kamehameha settled in to defend Iolani straight up in the final minute of OT, trailing by one, but a foul on the perimeter reset the shot clock and forced the Warriors to put the Raiders on the line.
Iolani missed four straight free throws in the final 15 seconds. Sake grabbed a key offensive rebound in between to drain more clock.
Iolani smartly applied two fouls to give, which left the Warriors with only 2.9 seconds to work.
“They executed it perfectly,” Young said of his players. “Kamehameha ran out of timeouts, so they couldn’t really run anything with a few seconds left.”
Paranada had an off-balance shot from the elbow that was off the mark, and Iolani’s celebration was on – again.
Chico Furtado got a state championship to call his own.
In his seventh attempt in a girls basketball state championship game, Maryknoll coach Chico Furtado led a team to a title as Maryknoll defeated Hanalani 46-33 in an all-ILH HHSAA Division II final.
Furtado had coached the Kalaheo girls and boys hoops programs to league titles, but a girls state title was missing from his resume. He was 0-for-3 in state finals at Kalaheo and 0-for-3 at Maryknoll going into last weekend.
He downplayed the significance in the immediate aftermath.
“It’s not about me, man. We’ve had great teams in the past,” Furtado said. “I’ve always told my teams, when you come here, you always have to be prepared to play your best game at the end. And today for the first half, first two and a half quarters, we didn’t.”
Isabella Arrisgado led the team of prolific long-range shooters with three 3-pointers and 13 points.
“It feels so good to accomplish this,” Arrisgado said. “I don’t think Chico has ever won a state championship on the girls side, so I’m super happy we got that for him.”
Maryknoll (12-0) dropped down to Division II this season.
“It was definitely a difference coming down to D-II, but to be honest, these teams are great,” Arrisgado said. “They had a lot of skill, super competitive. Hanalani definitely gave it to us. I was super proud of the girls for bouncing back.”
Hanalani (10-3) led 22-21 at halftime but Maryknoll, which was dominant throughout the regular season, won the third and fourth quarters convincingly.
“We made some plays in the third quarter, hit some big shots,” Furtado said. “It’s nice, but it’s about that group right there. They really persevered throughout the season.”
Maryknoll won the game with points off of turnovers, 19-4. It had 15 steals as a team, including seven by Madison Guillermo.
Hanalani’s Ellana Klemp won D-II Most Outstanding Player honors after posting eight points and 10 rebounds in the championship.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.