Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
As expected, Farrington was big. As usual at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association tournament, Kamehameha’s girls basketball team was better.
Casey Poe and Riana Arima powered the Warriors back to the Division II semifinals Thursday night at Kaimuki High in Honolulu in a 64-58 victory against the Governors.
Poe scored 28 points — going 9 of 13 from the field and 10 of 14 from the free-throw line — with 10 rebounds and Arima added 24 points to help the Big Island Interscholastic Federation runner-up Warriors (11-4) overcome a severe rebounding disadvantage (55-27). Kamehameha is in the Final Four at states for the eighth time in 10 seasons. The previous seven times, Kamehameha went on to reach the final, winning the title each of the past two seasons behind Most Outstanding Player performances from Poe, a senior.
At 7 p.m. today at Kaimuki, Kamehameha will play Hawaii Baptist. The Eagles (10-0), the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champions, beat Castle 41-31 in their quarterfinal.
Farrington’s Jeneva Toilolo, a 6-foot-1 junior, and 5-10 senior Penina Faumui outrebounded the Warriors by themselves. Toilolo collected 20 points and 22 rebounds — 11 on the offensive end — and Faumui had 28 points and 16 boards for the OIA champion Governors (9-4).
But Kamehameha, which shot 40 percent, thrived by scoring 26 points off 28 Farrington turnovers, didn’t allow any fast-break points and was able to get to the free-throw line. Farrington made 38.5 percent of its shots.
Only four players scored for the Warriors. Makamae Gabriel finished with seven points and Kiera Kua-Ramirez had five.
Arima,a junior, had 14 points as Kamehameha took a 31-25 at the halftime. It led 20-10 after the first quarter.