Lunas, Na Alii advance to girls D-I hoops final

By Fred Guzman

For the first time in the program’s history, the King Kekaulike girls have earned a berth in the state high school basketball tournament.

Na Alii rode a 17-point outing by Taylor Fernandez and an early 11-point outburst by Taylor Hiraga, including a trio of treys in the opening five minutes, en route to a 57-31 over Maui High in last night’s semis of the MIL Division-I tournament at the Kamehameha-Maui gym.

Kekaulike improved its MIL mark to 10-3 going into tonight’s 7 o’clock tournament final against defending state champion Lahainaluna

The Lunas, currently ranked fourth in the state, improved their MIL record to 12-0 and extended their unbeaten run in league competition to 58 with a 79-21 rout of Kamehameha.

Reigning state player of the year Maiki Viela again led the Lunas, scoring 12 of her game-high 19 in the first quarter as her team roared out to leads of 22-8 after one period and 47-12 at halftime.

The Lunas can cap a fourth straight unbeaten MIL season and clinch their seventh straight overall league title with a win over Na Alii tonight. If Kekaulike can pull off an upset, the two teams would meet again on Saturday for the overall crown.

Molokai High will face Seabury Hall in tonight’s 5:30 D-II title game. Molokai drew a bye while Seabury advanced with a 42-37 win over Lanai as Megan O’Malley and Taylor Rudow each scored 10 for the Spartans.

In boy’s hoops action last night, Lahainaluna improved its league record to 8-0 win a 64-47 road victory over King Kekaulike.

Luke Williams led the Lunas with 19 poins, while Leroy Rickard added 16 and TJ Rickard had 13. Alryos Ferreira scored 20 for Na Alii, which fell to 3-7.

MIL SOCCER: Three of the MIL’s four title races are still up for grabs in soccer.

Kamehameha leads the D-I girls’ standings with a 10-1 record and 30 points, while Baldwin is 9-0 with 27 points and Kekaulike is 9-2 for 27, as well. Kamehameha faces St. Anthony today at 5 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium.

Seabury Hall leads the D-II girls wit a 5-4-1 mark and 16 points, while St. Anthony virtually clinched a state berth with a 3-1 win over Hana yesterday. The Trojans are 4-9.

Lahainaluna is bidding for its first-ever boy’s soccer title, leading D-I with a 5-2-1 record and 16 points. Kekaulike is second at 5-3-0 and 15 points. Defending champ Baldwin is third at 4-1-2 and 14 points while Maui High is fourth at 3-4-2 and 11 points.

In D-II, St. Anthony has a 4-5 record and 12 points. Seabury is second at 3-5 and nine points.

St. Anthony can open up further ground tonight when it plays host to Kamehameha in a 7 o’clock game at War Memorial.