Avenging a stunning loss from six days before, Farrington rallied past Roosevelt, 52-41, last night to set up a rematch tomorrow for the O'ahu Interscholastic Association girls basketball championship.

Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at McKinley's Student Council Gym.

Last night at McKinley, a vocal crowd of about 500 watched the Governors — ranked No. 3 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media — use a 13-2 finishing run to improve to 17-1 in league play.

No. 5-ranked Roosevelt, which upset Farrington 62-60 in the third round of the OIA Red Conference tournament last Friday, fell to 11-6 after its first tourney loss.

"It feels good to put us back on the map; it's been a while since Farrington has been to the championship game," said senior guard Valerie Lesu, who scored 13 points last night, including seven in the fourth period. "I think losing to Roosevelt last week humbled us and made us realize that any game is anybody's game, so we need to step it up every time."

Kirsten Liana broke a 39-39 tie with a short turnaround in the lane with 4:18 remaining, and Lesu drained a 3-pointer from the right wing 43 seconds later. Brydgette Tatupu-Leopoldo sank two free throws to make it 46-39 with 1:58 left, then Lesu made a steal, layup and free throw on the ensuing possession to put the Govs up, 49-39.

Kelcie Namba scored on a layup with 1:11 remaining to cut it to 49-41, but that would be the Rough Riders' final points of the night.

"We had a few turnovers that hurt us late," Roosevelt coach Clint Chikamori said.

The Rough Riders also suffered a setback when starting post Tasia Kamakawiwo'ole was whistled for her fourth foul with 7:03 remaining and was sent to the bench. She returned later, but was scoreless in the fourth quarter after notching 11 points in the first three periods.

Farrington coach Caroline Tatupu said having Kamakawiwo'ole sitting on the bench helped her team, but a bigger factor was better team defense overall, especially in the fourth quarter. In the loss last week, Roosevelt forward Mikela Thoemmes scored a game-high 23 points; she had 11 last night — none in the final 9 minutes, 42 seconds.

"Last time we didn't play our game, so tonight we needed to play our game and step it up on defense, which we were lacking last time," Tatupu said. "We needed to do a better job on Mikela, because she killed us last time."

Tatupu-Leopoldo scored 14 points, sinking all eight free-throw attempts in the fourth period (9 of 10 overall).

The score was 24-24 at halftime and Joshy Noga's layup gave the Rough Riders a 39-37 lead with 6:23 left in the game, but the Governors answered with a 12-0 run.

Under the OIA tournament's new modified double-elimination format, the Governors were able to work their way through the losers bracket after last week's defeat, but it meant winning four games in the past six days — three on consecutive days, including last night's.

Tomorrow's winner-take-all final will be Farrington's seventh game in 11 days.

"Our girls are tough, they can bounce back," Tatupu said.

Lesu agreed.

"We just gotta suck it up and play hard one more time," she said. "No pain, no gain."

ROOSEVELT (11-6) 8 16 11 17 — 52

FARRINGTON (17-1) 9 15 13 4 — 41

ROOSEVELT — Kelcie Namba 8, Kathleen Nakata 3, Nicole Ramirez 2, Abcde Furuta-Harada 0, Mikela Thoemmes 11, Joshy Noga 6, Tasia Kamakawiwo'ole 11. Totals 15 11-16 41.

FARRINGTON — Natalie Mata 3, Brydgette Tatupu-Leopoldo 14, Janell Nance 5, Kirsten Liana 7, Valerie Lesu 13, Sofia Folaumahina 6, Lusina Otineru 4. Totals 16 18-25 52.

3-point goals: Roosevelt none. Farrington 2 (Lesu, Tatupu-Leopoldo).

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