Crystal Tagudin sank a 12-foot jumper with 13 seconds remaining last night to lift 'Aiea to a pulsating 41-40 victory over Kalani in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines/Hawai'i High School Athletic Association Girls Basketball Division I Championships.

Na Ali'i, the O'ahu Interscholastic Association's sixth-place team, improved to 12-5 in the regular and postseason and will face No. 1 seed and Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion Punahou (11-1) in tonight's 7 o'clock quarterfinal at Farrington.

"We feel like we had to do this for our school, for our league and for the (OIA) West," said Tagudin, a 5-foot-5 senior guard, who finished with a team-high 12 points and added eight rebounds.

'Aiea, which won the OIA Western Division, fell to Kalani by 20 points in the third round of the league tournament and had to beat East runner-up McKinley the next afternoon to secure what turned out to be the West's only state berth.

But Na Ali'i managed to stay close with Kalani (9-9) last night at Farrington as the Falcons struggled from the field, especially from 3-point range. Kalani hit 10 shots from beyond the arc in the teams' previous meeting, but was only 4 of 25 from 3-point range last night.

Still, the Falcons were in position to win as 'Aiea hit only 9 of 25 free throws (36 percent) and lost its best player, senior guard Natasha Helsham, when she fouled out with 3:57 left.

Jamie Higa's layup with 30 seconds remaining gave Kalani a 40-39 lead, but Tagudin answered with her jumper just inside the free-throw line.

After consecutive timeouts, the Falcons pushed the ball to the right side of the lane, but missed a running banker and Na Ali'i's Carol Sio grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled with two seconds left.

She missed both shots and Kalani grabbed the rebound with 1.5 seconds remaining. Following a timeout, 'Aiea intercepted the ensuing inbounds pass at halfcourt and time ran out.

"We caught Kalani on a bad shooting night, but our girls hung tough and stayed with the game plan," Na Ali'i coach Mike Yen said. "We asked the other girls to step up (after Helsham fouled out), and we told them to go all out because this is the state tournament."

Higa had put the Falcons up, 38-37, on two free throws with 1:28 left, but Tagudin answered 21 seconds later with a baseline drive and circus shot in which she flipped the ball backwards in front of the rim and watched it drop through.

"I was in the air and just reversed it," Tagudin said. "It just felt right."

Sio finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Helsham added 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

Ashlyn Onaga led Kalani with 16 points, Higa added 14 points and seven rebounds and Violet Alama contributed seven points and 16 rebounds.

'AIEA (12-5) 8 10 12 11 — 41

KALANI (9-9) 10 8 10 12 — 40

'AIEA — Celeste Fong 0, Natasha Helsham 10, Natasha Fong 5, Crystal Tagudin 12, Rayna Strom-Okimoto 0, Emily Tausaga 3, Kaui Kuehu 1, Carol Sio 10. Totals 16 9-25 41.

KALANI — Hikaru Kumagai 0, Kelsie Maslanka 0, Tiffany Liao 0, Corie Kuia 1, Ashlyn Onaga 16, Kiera Iinuma 0, Cristine Sasano 0 , Kristi Belshe 2, Jamie Higa 14, Tiare Maafala 0, Violet Alama 7. Totals 16 4-12 40.

3-point goals: 'Aiea none. Kalani 4 (Onaga 2, Higa 2).

ROOSEVELT 69, WAIAKEA 52

Mikela Thoemmes scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Joshy Noga added 12 points and six rebounds and the Rough Riders outscored the Warriors 24-8 in the third period to advance at Farrington.

Roosevelt, the OIA runner-up, will face No. 4 seed and Maui Interscholastic League champion Lahainaluna (14-0) in today's 5 p.m. quarterfinal.

The Rough Riders led 32-27 at halftime and then began the third period with an 8-0 run. Nicole Ramirez then hit two 3-pointers to spark a 14-2 run that turned a 40-31 lead into a 54-33 edge with 1:36 remaining in the quarter.

Ramirez finished with 11 points — including three 3-pointers — and eight rebounds.

Kanisha Bello led the Big Island Interscholastic Federation runner-up Warriors (8-5) with 17 points and Kamie Imai added 14 points and 10 rebounds.

WAIAKEA (8-5) 12 15 8 17 — 52

ROOSEVELT (12-7) 14 18 24 13 — 69

WAIaKEA — Jamielynn Moe 2, Kanisha Bello 17, Kamie Imai 14, Amanda Hubbell 8, Tricia Amuimuia 0, Ciera Pacheco 4, Tracie Sakane 0, Alyssa Ferreira 7. Totals 21-62 8-14 52.

ROOSEVELT — Charisse Tanabe 2, Kelcie Namba 3, Samantha Murakami 0, Kathleen Nakata 5, Nicole Ramirez 11, Abcde Furuta-Harada 3, Rachel Gomes 2, Mikela Thoemmes 26, Joshy Noga 12, Cierra Kapea 0, Tasia Kamakawiwo'ole 5. Totals 27-52 9-20 69. 3-point goals: Waiakea 2 (Bello 2). Roosevelt 6 (Ramirez 3, Namba, Furuta-Harata, Thoemmes).