Sports Update

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Saturday, April 19, 1997

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Saints pick Naeole
in first round

Former Kahuku High standout Chris Naeole was chosen by the New Orleans Saints today in the first round of the National Football League draft.

Naeole, a guard who was a first-team All-American at Colorado this past season, was the 10th overall pick.

"He's a great football player in our mind," Ditka said on ESPN this morning. "He's a great kid. He's a tough guy. He's my kind of football player."

Naeole said he was happy to be going to the Saints.

"It's warm and humid, just like here. Coach Ditka said he wanted to build his offensive line and I'm a perfect fixture for that."

Naeole's choice was roundly cricized by ESPN "draft expert" Mel Kiper Jr, who termed it "a major reach."

"He gets paid to say stuff like that," Naeole said. "It doesn't bother me a bit. He can't take my name off the board, I'm still the No. 10 pick."

Rainbows baseball team
justs keeps on winning

University of Hawaii head coach Les Murakami isn't ready to say he believes in miracles just yet, but after Friday night's 5-1 victory over San Jose State, he feels the Rainbows are finally seeing the light.

Hawaii has won six of its last seven games to raise its Western Athletic Conference record to 8-10 and overall mark to 16-28.

The West Division leading Spartans fell to 15-7 in league play and 30-16 for the season. Granted, the Rainbows aren't going to catch them, but they still have an outside shot of overtaking San Diego State for the sixth and final spot in the WAC postseason tourney.

The Aztecs maintained their 21/2 game lead over the Rainbows by knocking off Fresno State, 6-3, last night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. Hawaii closes its regular season with a three-game set at Rainbow Stadium with San Diego State.

"It could come down to that series, but we can't worry about that right now," Murakami said. "All we can do is keep winning as many games as we can and then see what happens. We still have a long way to go."

And a short time to get there, considering the Rainbows only have 12 WAC games left against four of the best teams in the league. Hawaii not only has two games remaining with San Jose State, but four with Fresno State, three with Brigham Young University and three with San Diego State. Those four teams are a combined 54-27 in WAC play.

"All you can do is play one at a time and try to win each one of those," Robert Medeiros said. "The young guys are starting to believe in themselves. We have confidence we can win the close games in the late innings."

Punahou girls
stay undefeated

Punahou won its sixth consecutive Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls' basketball game against no defeats Friday night with a 48-37 victory over visiting University High.

Junior point guard Candice Usita led the Buffanblu with 21 points, 10 in the first half and 11 in the fourth quarter. Onaona Miller chipped in with 11 points.

Kasey Tabar, who scored nine points in the first half to help the Junior Rainbows take a 22-19 at intermission, finished with 13 points.

Sacred Hearts 37, Mid-Pacific 24: At Mid-Pacific, Casey Correa and Erin Abrigar led the Lancers offensively in the first half when Sacred Hearts built a 20-9 lead.

Correa scored seven of her team-high 10 points and Abrigar had six of her nine points before halftime.

Melissa Chee topped the Owls with 10 points.

Aiea 41, Moanalua 39: At Aiea, down by as many as 10 points late in the second quarter, Na Alii (3-4) rallied in the fourth quarter to edge the Menehunes (3-4).

Carissa Manangan's hit a 3-pointer at the end of the half cut Moanalua's lead to two, 23-21, and provide big momentum change for Aiea.

After an even third quarter, Courtney Yee and Jennifer Miguel each scored four points in the final period to help ease Na Alii to victory.

Manangan and Jennifer Miguel led Aiea with nine points apiece.

Moanalua's Sarah Mausolf scored a game-high 20 points.

Mililani 45, Nanakuli 41: At Mililani, Kristen Anderson, a 5-foot-10 senior forward, scored eight of her 16 points in overtime to lift the Trojans to victory after the Golden Hawks had staged a furious fourth-quarter rally to tie the game.

Trailing 31-15 after three periods, Nanakuli, with Kelly Lum Ho hitting 11 of 13 free throw attempts, outscored Mililani, 20-4, in the fourth quarter. Lum Ho finished with 25 points.

Campbell 41, Waipahu 35: At Campbell, the Sabers improved to 5-1 as Sanoi Sao and Jeana Fisher led the way with 11 points each.

Fisher, a 5-9 senior, helped Campbell to a 14-6 first-quarter lead by scoring five points. Sanoi, a 5-5 senior, had six points in the third quarter when the Sabers built a 30-19 advantage.

Arlynn Orpilla paced the Marauders with 11 points.

Radford 51, Waialua 23: At Waialua, Taryn Geolina sank eight of her 12 points in the first half as the Rams took a 24-7 halftime lead.

Candace Benford led Radford with 14 points.

Peni Dela Pena and Kayla Kahului shared scoring honors for the Bulldogs with seven points apiece.