HondaReport.com - Girls' Basketball: No. 6 Kaiser outlasts Roosevelt, 46-41

Girls' Basketball: No. 6 Kaiser outlasts Roosevelt, 46-41

With a windmill of nothing-but-net free throws down the stretch, Kaiser guard Jamie Nerona ended Roosevelt's dreams of qualifying for the OIA Division I playoffs.

HONOLULU—One week after toppling the No. 1 team in the East, the Roosevelt Rough Riders fell from grace.

With a thud, no less. Jamie Nerona sank eight of her 10 free-throw attempts during the final 47 seconds as Kaiser outlasted Roosevelt, 46-41, Wednesday night at the Cougars’ gym.

The win vaulted Kaiser to 9-2 in O’ahu Interscholastic Association East Division play. A loss would have sent Kaiser into a potential three-way tie for a playoff spot. A berth was assured for the Cougars, but the seeding was up in the air.

“I didn’t tell them that,” Kaiser head coach Lisa Mann admitted. “I told them, if we win, it’s for sure. And if we lose, it’s not for sure. Sometimes, you gotta play mental games, or they’ll relax too much.”

Roosevelt, which upset Kahuku last week, fell to 7-4 and is out of Division I playoff contention. “We beat Kahuku, then we had two down games,” Roosevelt head coach Bobby Keanini said. “Kaiser played great, but we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. We did ourselves in.”

Roosevelt still has an opportunity to play in the OIA Division II tourney. The first Division II state tournament will be held in May. That’s of little consolation to the Rough Riders, who were categorized in Division II before the season began, but eligible to qualify for the Division I playoffs.

In previous years, the top six teams in the division qualified for the playoffs. With the advent of Division II playoffs, the league cut the number of playoff spots for Division I teams to just four.

“What really hurts is not having the fifth and sixth teams get in,” Keanini said. “Farrington is playing really good basketball. That hurts our division when a team like that can’t get into the playoffs.”

Had Roosevelt won, it would have put Kaiser, McKinley and the Rough Riders in a three-way tie. According to the league’s tiebreaker formula, Kaiser and Roosevelt would have claimed the final two playoff berths, with McKinley left out.

Instead, McKinley is in, and the Rough Riders move on to the Division II state tourney.

Nerona, a junior guard, finished with a team-high 13 points. Kilioe Ali’ifua and Sharde Pratt led a strong Cougar effort under the glass. Ali’ifua had 11 points and 13 rebounds, while Pratt tallied 10 points and nine rebounds.

Kaiser’s dominance on the glass was a major factor in limiting Roosevelt’s second-chance opportunities. The Cougars did it despite major foul trouble for Pratt and Ali’ifua.

“I was really out of it,” Pratt said. “But I knew my teammates would pick it up.”

Kaiser outrebounded Roosevelt 39-22. Fifteen of the Cougars’ rebounds came on the offensive glass. That offset 28-percent shooting from the field (11 of 39) and 52-percent accuracy from the free-throw line.

Roosevelt, who used man and 2-3 zone defenses, forced Kaiser into 17 turnovers while committing just 10. However, the Rough Riders shot just 33 percent from the foul line (8 of 24).

Roosevelt also shot 37 percent from the floor (15 of 41), including 3-of-11 from 3-point range.

The Rough Riders missed their first seven 3-point attempts before sinking three treys in the final minutes to stay within range of the Cougars.

The Rough Riders arrived at Kaiser with a simple gameplan: Run, run and run. And hopefully, wear out Kaiser’s post players, get them in foul trouble, forcing Mann to use a thin bench. Only nine players suited up for the Cougars.

“We’re deeper at the 4 and 5, so we wanted to run the floor,” Keanini said. “You make just eight free throws, you can’t win a game like that.”

Ali’ifua, a 6-foot junior, had just two points midway through the second quarter against a Roosevelt man defense that swarmed the low posts with weakside help and double teams. Kaiser, with 10 turnovers at that point, started taking better care of the roundball, and the tide turned.

Trailing 11-9, Ali’ifua came alive with an offensive board for a layup, two free throws and a power move under the glass off a pass from Nerona. Her offensive splurge, along with a 3-pointer from the left wing by Nerona, sparked Kaiser’s 14-2 run.

The Cougars led at the half, 21-13. Pratt and Ali’ifua each had eight points and seven caroms by intermission.

Defensively, Kaiser stayed in a man-to-man, switching off when Roosevelt ran a weave offense. That stifled the Rough Riders, who shot just 5-of-21 from the field by halftime.

Pratt committed her third personal foul with 7:08 left in the third quarter, and promptly took a seat on the bench. Roosevelt was down just 21-16 at that point, but Kaiser went on a 9-2 run.

Nerona swished another 3-pointer, while sophomore Kehau Bangay scored four points as Kaiser took a 30-18 lead with 3:20 remaining in the third.

Roosevelt pulled within eight by the start of the fourth quarter, but Kaiser guard Shera Yamamoto banked in a 3-point shot from the top of the key, and Pratt scored on a post move. Kaiser led 35-22 with 7:04 to go in the game.

Larisa Nakasone’s 3-pointer from the right corner helped Roosevelt bounce back. After Pratt sat down with her fourth personal foul, Capi Uyechi’s foul shots brought the Rough Riders within 35-28 with 4:33 remaining.

Kaiser spread the floor open, taking valuable minutes off the clock. “Coach said run through the plays, don’t keep shooting as much,” Pratt said.

However, Ali’ifua fouled out with 1:56 to go. Tati Beasley hit a free throw to finish off a three-point play, and Roosevelt was within 35-31.

After Pratt fouled out with 37 seconds left, Miyashiro went to the line for two foul shots. She missed both attempts, and Kaiser padded its 39-33 lead moments later.

Nerona sank two foul shots to extend the lead to eight. Miyashiro answered with a hustle play for a layup, but Nerona hit three of her next four tries from the line. Kaiser led 44-35 with 14.5 seconds left.

That was enough cushion for Kaiser. Nicole Yoshimoto sank a pair of 3-point shots in the final eight seconds, but Roosevelt got no closer than five.

“This is our first goal,” Mann said of her team reaching the playoffs. “But we gotta be ready mentally. When we’re not, we’re no different from any other team.”