Girls hoops notebook: Day 3
Posted at 7:06 PM

Didn't see Punahou-Radford, but I was at Iolani-Waiakea. I haven't seen a tactical ploy drag on without success this long since ... I can't remember.

You probably saw the same thing I did.

Waiakea had Iolani in trouble early last night. The Warrior girls weren't running and gunning -- three starters were sick -- but they had a 12-7 lead. Spreading the floor four-corners style, attacking with cautious deliberation. Iolani fans were moaning and groaning, even tossing barbs at officials over every close call.

Then, everything turned upside down. Waiakea's tactic on defense -- man-to-man with center Kira DeMorales sitting back under the basket -- worked at first. Iolani shot 0-for-7 from the 3-point arc. But in the second quarter, wide, wide-open Iolani bombers hit one, then two, and then, three treys.

Waiakea refused to change defense. While most of the crowd at Kaimuki High School gym wondered what was going on, Iolani nailed a fourth 3-pointer, and the five-point deficit turned into a 24-16 lead. What was going on? I didn't have a clue.

In short:

>> The defense (leaving DeMorales under the basket) didn't work and should've been changed long before Iolani dropped nine treys

>> Between DeMorales and Kamie Imai, straight man defense with plenty of weakside "flashing" would have worked more effectively

>> With a 3- to 6-inch height advantage on her defenders, Imai could have dominated on the low post, but Waiakea had her at mid-court all game long

And finally, Iolani is a quick, fast team, but not necessarily a run-and-gun team. They're comfortable in halfcourt sets. Waiakea may have been sick, but 4 minutes of their normal uptempo game would've been a good barometer. Switching to a slowdown game can always happen later.

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