A traumatic bus accident less than 48 hours earlier wasn't going to stop the Kahuku High School girls' water polo team from jumping back into the pool yesterday.

And as their opponents yesterday discovered, these Red Raiders are tough, determined and, as the Kahuku coaches and players themselves will attest, very lucky. Things could have been a lot worse.

On Thursday afternoon, the Kahuku team bus got into an accident on Kamehameha Highway near Waikane Store that sent 27 of the 28 people on board to hospitals. None was seriously injured and they all were treated and sent home later that day.

"The pool felt good," said Kahuku senior Rosie Jaffurs, who played yesterday despite a sore back and neck. "It seemed like we haven't (been in the water) forever. It felt really good to get in the pool."

"It was great for our girls to get out again and do what they love to do, and that's play water polo," Kahuku athletic director Joe Whitford said yesterday after Kahuku defeated Roosevelt 10-3 and Mililani 15-1 in O'ahu Interscholastic Association matches at the Brigham Young-Hawai'i campus in La'ie.

The match against Roosevelt was tied 2-2 at halftime before the Red Raiders scored seven goals in a row, including three penalty shots in the third period.

Kahuku head coach Makana Whitford, the daughter of the athletic director, said she wanted to get the Red Raiders back in the pool as soon as possible. That meant no postponing of yesterday's matches.

"I just wanted the girls to get over what happened as quickly as they can because we have other things to worry about," she said. "We have states and OIA championships coming up in a month so I need my girls happy and excited. I just wanted to get them back in the pool."

Kahuku, which has won all five OIA girls' water polo titles, improved to 7-0 with the victory over Mililani.

"I know they're kind of hurt and still have their scratches and bruises, but they played hard today and I'm just proud of them," Makana Whitford said.

5 PLAYERS MISS GAMES

Five of Kahuku's 21 players were held out of yesterday's matches because of injuries sustained in Thursday's accident. The team's bus swerved to avoid a car that had stopped suddenly, slid into a ditch and rolled over on its right side. The team was en route to Manoa to scrimmage Pac-Five at Mid-Pacific Institute.

"It was probably one of the scariest moments in my life," Jaffurs said. "I didn't really know what was happening. I just remember the bus turning over and I was like, 'Did that really happen?' Thank God I'm alive. The first thing I thought was, 'Is anyone seriously injured?' "

Sian Howells, a sophomore, likely is out for the season. She suffered the most serious injuries — two cracked ribs and a punctured lung on her right side. She sat in the back left of the bus Thursday.

Alex Shea also is sidelined because of injuries to her left knee, left arm and nose. She was in the second row on the right side of the bus.

"I feel real fortunate," Howells said. "It could have been so much worse. Everyone got through it and the girls are playing two days after."

Whitford, the head coach, said some of the team members suffered cuts, bruises and back pain.

"My girls flew from one side of the bus to the other, hitting their heads on the windows and hitting each other," she said. "There were things flying at them. It could have been a lot worse. I was grateful it wasn't worse than what it was."

After yesterday's victories, the Red Raiders were treated to a cake decorated with "Kahuku Girls Water Polo" in white frosting, along with a bus on its side, a palm tree and police car.

'GOD WAS WITH US'

The 25 players, two coaches and bus driver used the back exit or pushed open the front window to escape the bus.

The ditch is about 7 to 8 feet deep, according to Joe Whitford, and the water is knee-high in some areas, Shea said.

"I just remember sliding down, because she (the bus driver) put the brakes on, and looking out the window and seeing the stream below," Shea said. "I was just like, 'No way, we're going to go down there.' And then all of a sudden we just hit the ground and I don't remember how I got out of the bus.

"I remember walking across the river and the guys across the street from Waikane Store, they were a huge help. One of them carried me up and onto the road, and that's about all I remember."

A tree in the ditch likely helped stop the bus from rolling over.

"They said if the tree wasn't there the bus would have kept rolling," Jaffurs said. "We were lucky God was with us. He was watching over us."

Shea, along with 23 others, was taken to Castle Medical Center. Howells and two others were taken to The Queen's Medical Center.

"Once I was on the road, I was walking and got really light-headed and had to lie down," Howells said. "From there the ambulance took me to the hospital."

Joe Whitford was at the school Thursday when Makana Whitford, in her first season as Kahuku head coach, called and told him about the accident. Another of his daughters is Red Raiders junior Minnie Whitford.

He drove immediately to the accident site with Kahuku principal Lisa DeLong.

"As far as driving down it was pretty traumatic," Joe Whitford said. "I had two daughters on the bus — the head coach and a player. You can image how I was, and also for the safety of the others."

Kahuku next plays Saturday against Leilehua.