KAPA’A — His forces were depleted by four. And those that remained had an 0-8 preseason chip on their shoulder weighing them down. But that didn’t stop Waimea girls basketball coach Elton Montemayor from breathing fire into his Menehunes. The
KAPA’A — His forces were depleted by four. And those that remained had an 0-8 preseason chip on their shoulder weighing them down.
But that didn’t stop Waimea girls basketball coach Elton Montemayor from breathing fire into his Menehunes. The mild-mannered Montemayor pleaded with his girls to do as he asked.
They listened, and so nabbed the Kaua’i Interscholastic Federation opener 55-50 at Kapa’a. It delivered the coach his first-ever varsity win.
“We were coming into this without a few players and with eight losses,” Montemayor said. “So, I really spent the week stressing that we needed to come out strong.”
That happened for neither team. The Warriors and the Menehunes combined for 28 first-half turnovers, trudging through the first 16 minutes as though loaded with nervous energy.
Despite committing 19 of those turnovers, Waimea, behind 10 of Robyn Manuel’s 22 points, trailed just 24-23 at the break. Had Kapa’a been able to connect on a bushel-full of lay-up opportunities, it might have knocked the Menehunes out in the second quarter.
“It was a really sloppy half,” Montemayor said. “We just told the girls that they had to be more aggressive defensively in the second. We’d been saying all week that if we could limit second shots we’d be fine.”
It wasn’t much help in the first half, when the Menehunes outrebounded the Warriors 13-5. However, Waimea’s 20 second-half boards did the trick. Wrapping up the rebounds allowed guards Manuel and Ashley Hori to create offensive chances in the open court.
Manuel delivered with her 22 points and nine rebounds.
“I’d been hearing all along that Robyn was going to carry this team, that she could,” Montemayor said. “Tonight she showed that.”
Manuel was at the core of perhaps the game’s most important sequence of plays.
After Kapa’a and Waimea spent the third quarter jockeying for position — there were eight lead changes — Manuel hit two free throws early in the fourth to tie the score 34-34. The guard then caused a steal. Soon after, Melody Manuel dropped two free throws to give the Menehunes a two-point lead.
The Menehune pressure then got the best of Kapa’a again, as Manuel stole another ball. She took a pass on the right baseline and canned a 3-pointer to give Waimea a cushion it would hold throughout the fourth quarter.
“She really stepped up big against a very good Kapa’a team,” Montemayor said. “It was great to see her do that.”
The Warriors did all they could to stay in the contest, aggressively attacking their basket on offense. But the free throw line betrayed them; they hit just 8 of 15 in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Waimea spread the court on offense, and, after sufficient ball movement, swooped to the goal for layups.
“Once we got going in the second half I thought we really settled down,” Montemayor said.
When Kapa’a’s Waiala Quisano fouled out with two minutes remaining, the Warriors’ fate was sealed. The senior led Kapa’a with 21 points on the night. To be fair, Kapa’a was also playing minus a few key girls.
For the record, Montemayor is no stranger to winning. He and his father, Glenn, along with brother, Guy, have compiled a 23-9 record coaching the junior varsity boys over the past four years.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for a win on this level,” Elton said. “If feels really good, but all the credit goes to the girls.”
