By KIM BAXTER Stephens Media ADVERTISING HONOLULU — The Konawaena girls basketball team was ready for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I state championship game. The Wildcats had pulled away in the second half from a feisty Kahuku
By KIM BAXTER
Stephens Media
HONOLULU — The Konawaena girls basketball team was ready for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I state championship game.
The Wildcats had pulled away in the second half from a feisty Kahuku team Thursday and were cruising to the win. Coach Bobbie Awa emptied her bench, save for one starter, Dawnyelle Awa, her daughter and the primary ball-handler.
Everything was going as planned, and the final seconds were supposed to be a mere formality before top-seeded Konawaena qualified for its fourth straight state title game.
Then one of those freaky basketball plays happened, and during a scrum under the basket for a rebound, a Kahuku player fell on Dawnyelle Awa’s left leg, re-injuring an ankle she hurt during practice on Feb. 1, just before last weekend’s Big Island Interscholastic Federation tournament.
With 17.5 seconds left in what became a 60-42 semifinal victory at the Neal Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Awa limped off the court in obvious pain. As she took off her ankle brace and ankle tape, her left ankle was obviously bruised and swollen.
It was a serious concern hanging over the team, which hovered around Awa after the win rather than celebrate being one step closer to sealing its second straight crown. Though her effectiveness in Friday’s championship game against Iolani is uncertain, she promised she would play in the game. Tipoff is 7 p.m., and the game will be televised on OC16.
“We’re not going down,” said Dawnyelle Awa, a senior who scored 16 points against Kahuku. “We’re not going down. This is our last year. We can’t go out with a loss.”
Konawaena (26-3) will be playing for its third championship in five years and the state’s first back-to-back titles since Punahou repeated in 2006. This is the first time Iolani (13-1) has reached the title game since 2008.
“There’s no question that Kona is THE team, but we’ll see what happens,” said ‘Iolani coach Eddie Maruyama, whose team knocked off third-seeded Lahainaluna 51-34 in the other semifinal. “We’ll show up and give them a game hopefully.”
Konawaena has played Iolani, the second-seeded team and the top team from the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, in the past two state tournaments. Both times, the teams met in the semifinals at Neal Blaisdell Center, and both times, the Wildcats stomped the Raiders.
But that’s ancient history to a Konawaena team looking to cement its four-year dynasty.
“It’s a brand new day, a brand new game,” said senior star Lia Galdeira, who finished with 16 points against Kahuku. “It’s like we never played them before.”
Iolani is led by senior guard Kylie Maeda, who has scored 36 total points in her two state tournament games and hit five 3-pointers. The 5-foot-7 Maeda has committed to play basketball for BYU. But the Raiders will be without key forward Alex Masaquel, who suffered a broken leg in January.
Even still, Iolani worries Bobbie Awa.
“Iolani is a great team and a great-coached team,” said the coach who has won four state titles at Konawaena. “It’s never easy when we play them. They’re fast, they’re quick, they pressure the ball up the court, (and) they make you work. They can shoot the ball, they attack the basket. They’ve got bigs, and they’ve got smalls. They’re a very, very well-rounded team. Yeah, it’s not going to be a cakewalk. No way. We’re really going to have to work.”
With Dawnyelle Awa’s gimpy left ankle, Konawaena will lean even more on Galdeira and junior Courtney Kaupu, who tossed in 13 points in each of her two games.
“She’s one of the main ingredients in our team,” Awa said of her daughter. “But things happen, and other girls will just have to step it up.”
