Ho'onani Dennis nailed a 3-pointer from the corner with 26 seconds left to cap a furious comeback as Waimea defeated St. Andrews Priory, 52-50, in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines Division II high school girls basketball tournament at Farrington High School.

Dennis led Waimea with 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Senior guard Laura Do added 14 points as well as two monstrous blocks during the Menehune's fourth-quarter run.

St. Andrews was led by sophomore guard Minna Watanabe, who scored 21 points, and the bruising post duo of Kellee Tom and Maile Tua, who combined for 24 points.

After an evenly matched first half that ended with St. Andrews ahead 27-26, the Pride started strong.

In the opening minutes of the third quarter, Watanabe drove the right baseline and drew fouls on three consecutive possessions. Her six free throws, combined with put-back baskets by Tom (two) and Tua (one) gave St. Andrews a 39-29 lead with two minutes to go.

Waimea cut its deficit to 40-33 to start the fourth, then launched its own offensive.

"I told them that they weren't out of it," said Waimea head coach Elton Montemayor. "I told them to fight."

Do opened the quarter with an aggressive drive for a layup and a foul, converting the ensuing free throw to further trim Waimea's deficit.

But Watanabe seemed to be up to the challenge. She answered Do with a twisting layup, then answered a 3-pointer by Josey Jacinto with another contorting conversion at the baseline.

But Waimea kept coming, outscoring St. Andrews 13-3 down the stretch.

Junior forward Cheri Kua rebounded a miss by Do and converted a slippery reverse layup to tie the score 48-48 with 2:59 to play.

St. Andrews was called for a travel on the ensuing possession, and Waimea milked more than a minute off the clock hoping to get the last shot.

"I didn't want them to get nervous and turn the ball over so I called a timeout at 50 seconds," Montemayor said. "Then I drew up the play for (Dennis)."

Dennis maneuvered around two baseline picks to free herself in the right corner for a pass. She then coolly drained an arcing 3-pointer.

"I wasn't shooting too good up until then," Dennis said. "But coach drew up the play for me and I was open."

Tua scored quickly on a layup on the other side and Watanabe fouled Kierra Barba to stop the clock at 6.9 seconds. Barba hit one of two free throws.

St. Andrews head coach Ross Kinsler said his team's final play was designed to get Watanabe a 3-point attempt for the win, but Watanabe got trapped low in the paint and the ball went to fellow sophomore guard Noelani Kawashima, whose last-second attempt for the tie was blocked by Dennis and Kua.

"We were down before during the season, so we knew we could pull it out," Dennis said. "We never give up."

Said Kinsler: "We don't ever make it easy. I thought we put out a good effort tonight and we just came up short. Waimea is a tough team, but this was a good experience for us. We'll be OK."

KAMEHAMEHA-HAWAI'I 63, ST. FRANCIS 50

As happy as Kamehameha-Hawai'i head coach Kalani Silva was with his team's hard-fought win over St. Francis, he couldn't get the foul smell out of his nose.

The teams combined for 48 fouls and 53 turnovers.

St. Francis went to the line 47 times, converting 33 attempts. The Troubadours made only eight field goals, including one 3-pointer.

Kamehameha shot 13-for-27 from the line.

"If not for those calls, this would have been a 30-, 40-point game," said Silva, who was assessed a technical foul for questioning a charging call. "I don't understand what happened. I just wanted them to make the same calls both ways.

"The first half wasn't too bad," Silva said. "But in the second half they really tried to imbalance this game. I don't know if other people saw it, but it was obvious to me."

The Warriors got a dominant performance from 5-foot-6 junior center Tabitha Eseroma, who finished with 27 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field and 9-of-16 from the line. She also had 16 rebounds. Ashlee Kalauli and Sierra Gacayan each chipped in 11 points for Kamehameha.

St. Francis was led by junior guard Bryanna Batts, who scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.