As they watched Kamehameha Kapālama beat ‘Iolani for the Division I girls state basketball title at the University of Hawai‘i’s Stan Sheriff Center on Friday evening, Maui High’s players were motivated by one thought: “We want to play on that floor,” head coach Victor Aguirre said.

The Sabers lost 53-33 to Mililani in the quarterfinals and 53-25 to Campbell in the fifth-place game of the Hawaiʻi High School Athletic Association state tournament last week. But Aguirre sees a bright future with 13 of 14 players on his roster set to return next season.

“There’s a lot more excitement from what we did this year,” Aguirre said.

Maui High is coming off two straight MIL Division I girls basketball titles, just the second and third ever for the Kahului school, to go along with the first one it won in 1999. Last week they made history when they won a state tournament game for the first time as MIL champions, beating Kalani 45-33 to reach the fifth-place game. 

“Next year, oh yeah, I’m super excited. Same squad,” Aguirre said.

Aguirre’s team will miss its only senior from this season, point guard Naiara Bal, who is headed to Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., to play college basketball next year.

Bal was instrumental in leading the Sabers to back-to-back undefeated seasons in league play. She played with Aguirre for his Sparks club basketball team when she was in intermediate school, along with several other current Sabers.

“We’re going to miss her attitude,” Aguirre said of Bal. “She just goes out and plays anybody, right? No fear, doesn’t care who it is. She’s going to go at them. That attitude is going to be her lasting gift to this program. The other players are picking up on that.” 

Like the Sabers, the Lānaʻi Pine Lasses have been building steadily in the MIL Division II ranks that they now dominate. Lānaʻi advanced to the Division II state final four for the first time in school history with a 49-43 win over Kohala in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Lānaʻi finished fourth after a 43-17 loss to Hawaiʻi Baptist Academy on Friday in the semifinals and a 63-32 loss to Waimea in the third-place game on Saturday, but they lose only three seniors from their roster of 18 players who hope to continue the hot streak of the last few years.

The Pine Lasses have won four Maui Interscholastic League Division II basketball championships in a row, the first MIL basketball titles ever for the tiny school, boys or girls.

Considering the team’s travel challenges, their recent success is even more impressive. To get to Hilo for the Division II state tournament, the Pine Lasses took the Expeditions ferry to Maui and then flew directly to Hilo on Tuesday. To get back to Lānaʻi on Sunday, they flew from Hilo to Honolulu to Kahului and then Lānaʻi City since the ferry wasn’t running due to inclement weather.

There were not enough seats on the tiny Mokulele Airlines planes for all of the traveling party, so head coach A.J. Garbin and his daughter Alina Garbin stayed on Maui to catch a flight this morning. Lānaʻi teams routinely stay in school gyms on road trips for MIL games, which stretch from Hāna to Olinda to Nāpili during the season.

“It does help them bond,” A.J. Garbin said of the extreme travel challenges. “It gets them closer together because we’re always talking about family.”

He added, “it’s something we as Lānaʻi are used to. It’s something that we also look forward to for the girls because they get to get off the island and experience taking in different places, like within the gyms.”

The team stayed in a vacation rental in Hilo.

“Me personally, I do not enjoy it, but my team always says it’s a business trip,” said Destinee Dupree, a sophomore forward for the Pine Lasses. “It’s not for fun, so I kind of take that into consideration and we just suck it up.”

Dupree summed it up: “At the end it’s worth it because we get to go to all these different places and we know why we’re there, especially a place like Hilo. … We deserve to be here, so it’s all worth it.”

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HHSAA: All Monday first-round boys basketball games moved to Tuesday

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The Hawaiʻi High School Athletic Association announced on Sunday night that all of the first-round games in the Division I boys basketball tournament have been moved from today to Tuesday, due to the pending storm. MIL runner-up King Kekaulike High School will now host Mililani at 4 p.m. Tuesday with the winner advancing to Wednesday’s quarterfinal against top-seeded Punahou while the loser’s season will be over.

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COLLEGE BASEBALL: Ben Zeigler-Namoa named preseason All-Big West selection, No. 109 outfielder in nation by D1Baseball

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Baldwin High School graduate Ben Zeigler-Namoa, a University of Hawaiʻi senior, was named to the preseason 11-player All-Big West Conference team on Thursday. 

Zeigler-Namoa, an outfielder, led the Rainbow Warriors in runs batted in (54), doubles (17), slugging (.509) and tied for the team lead in hits (72) last season. Zeigler-Namoa’s 54 RBIs last year were the most in a season by a UH player since 2009.

Zeigler-Namoa was also named the No. 109 outfielder in the nation by the D1Baseball website last week.

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PADDLING: Seabury Hall wins first Division II state mixed title

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Seabury Hall won the first Division II state mixed paddling title on Saturday at Keʻehi Lagoon, crossing the finish line in the half-mile final in 3 minutes, 55.72 seconds, just 0.37 seconds in front of Nānākuli.

The Spartans crew of Stormy Smith, Odin Smith, Greta Freet, Wyatt Hartman, Misaki Chun and Henry Devereux paddled in the final for Seabury Hall. In the semifinal when the Spartans were second to Castle High School of Oʻahu, 3:58.34 to 3:58.81, to advance to the final, Keolahou Luksic paddled in place of Devereux.

The other members of the Seabury Hall mixed crew included Kailana Hagan, Noah Lopez, Wesley Kosaka and Kaiwihokua Brummel. The Spartans also finished sixth in the D-II girls final, while Molokaʻi was disqualified in the boys D-II state final.

The Hawaiʻi High School Athletic Association added Division II to paddling this season. In Division I results for MIL crews, Kamehameha Maui was second in girls, fifth in boys and fourth in mixed; and King Kekaulike was sixth in boys and seventh in girls.

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OLYMPICS: Maui native Lyon Farrell finishes eighth in big air snowboarding in Italy

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Maui native Lyon Farrell finished eighth in the big air men’s snowboard event at Livigno Snow Park at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, Italy, on Saturday. Farrell finished seventh in qualifying on Thursday to be one of 12 to advance to the final while competing for New Zealand.

After the first of three rounds, Farrell stood in fourth place on Saturday after a score of 83.5 points. His second-round score of 16.5 was thrown out and he nearly landed an impressive 1800 degree trick (five rotations) in the final round, but had a slight bobble to score 40.75 points in that round to finish with a total of 124.25.

The gold medal winner was Kira Kimura of Japan, who scored 179.5 points.

Farrell is also set to compete in the Olympic slopestyle competition. Qualification is Feb. 16 and the final is Feb. 18.

“Monday Morning Maui Sports” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.