Noelani Kawashima's best Christmas present may have come a day late.

Kawashima, a senior point guard for St. Andrew's Priory, scored a game-high 16 points, including the game-winning basket, in a 50-48 win over Punahou in an Interscholastic League of Hono-lulu Division II game Friday.

"Everybody on the court, we all jumped for joy because we couldn't believe we beat Punahou," Kawashima said.

It was the first win over the Buffanblu since 2005 for St. Andrew's, when it was led by two-time ILH Division II Player of the Year Holly Saito.

"It was exciting, I had to pause for a moment to let it all sink in that we actually won," Kawashima said.

St. Andrew's coach Chad Mizunaka said the win held even more importance because of a tough three-game stretch to open the season.

"It is a big win for us. The way the ILH schedule was made, we play three games during Christmas break: St. Francis, Punahou and then Maryknoll, which is the defending league champion, so we couldn't afford to lose all three. I told the girls we have to sneak at least one win out of these games," Mizunaka said.

With Friday's game tied at 48, Mizunaka called a timeout to set up a play for Kawashima.

"Punahou presses the whole game, so I knew the defender would be fronting Noelani," Mizunaka said. "We just wanted to lob the ball over the defender and have Noelani break long and we'll have a natural three-on- two."

Mizunaka had four-year varsity member Mina Watanabe throw the inbounds pass.

"We've been playing together since the seventh grade," Kawashima said of Watanabe. "We know where each other is on the court all the time, we're connected in a way."

The play went as designed.

"Mina lobbed it over the Punahou girl's head and I had an open court," Kawashima said. "I knew I had to attack the basket and either make the layup or get fouled."

Kawashima said a season-ending loss to Hanalani in last year's ILH postseason tournament fueled her team's drive to improve this season. St. Andrew's finished one win short of qualifying for the state tournament.

"It was very devastating, but we did have a good comeback in the second half and that opened our eyes to show us that we can get where we want to be but we just need to work a little harder to get there," she said.

With four seniors on this year's nine-member team, Kawashima says the goal is clear: Qualify for states.

"Ever since the season ended last year, we've been doing a lot of footwork, speed and conditioning stuff and weightlifting ... basically as much as we possibly could do without a basketball. We set a goal of making it to states and we'll have to produce the best we can every game to achieve it," Kawashima said.

Mizunaka has coached Kawashima since her days on the school's intermediate team and has been impressed with her development.

"She's really become a self-made player. I remember her as an intermediate player and she was definitely not the most skilled," Mizunaka said. "But she started going to clinics and camps and playing in outside leagues. She didn't come with that natural athleticism, but she made herself into a player."

Kawashima says the little playing time she received as a seventh grader lit a fire in her to get better.

"I really didn't get off the bench at all that year, I was one of the backups," Kawashima said. "My intermediate coaches told me specifically what they wanted me to work on to become a starter for my eighth-grade year. I went to the 808 clinic on Sundays and basketball camps on the Mainland and just tried to be more competitive in the outside leagues."

With the win over the Buffanblu, St. Andrew's evened its record at 1-1 and plays Maryknoll today.