KALAHEO — Kristle Henry was on fire as Gee’s Angels edged Kaulupono Girls 40-38 Monday night. “How do you like my 10-year-old?” Angels’ coach Cecil Gee said following their overtime win in the county’s 14 and Under girls basketball game
KALAHEO — Kristle Henry was on fire as Gee’s Angels edged Kaulupono Girls 40-38 Monday night.
“How do you like my 10-year-old?” Angels’ coach Cecil Gee said following their overtime win in the county’s 14 and Under girls basketball game at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
Beads of perspiration dotted Gee’s forehead, attesting to the intensity of the game that saw Kaulupono control the opening frames before being overtaken by the Angels. The victory keeps the Angels’ undefeated streak alive as the league enters its third week of play.
Banking on a 4-point showing by BreeAnn Cox-Abuan, Kaulupono outshot the Angels 5-2 in the opening frame and continued the firepower in the second period as Erin Connelly led the charge with 4 points in Waimea’s 8-5 showing.
Angel Jessilyn Aki took charge in the third period with a bucket and a trey as the Angels reversed the trend 8-3, but still trailed 16-15 at the half.
Capitalizing on missed charity shots and bad passing by Kaulupono, the Angels chipped away to a 34-34 stalemate to force the overtime.
“We started out slow, but the girls came back strong,” Gee said.
As the regulation time ticked down, Connelly netted a bucket to tie things 34-34, but a missed charity pair kept the stalemate intact as the long drive upcourt came up empty for the Angels at the buzzer.
The Angels fell victim to fouls as Maile Dreier fell in the final minute of regulation followed by Leina‘ala McCabe and the Angels’ rebounder Lauren Claypoole.
That put the spotlight on Henry as Angel fans were on their feet in the gym that resounded with cheers from both teams.
Efforts from Kaulupono’s Jayme Jacinto and Vakeesha Lagazo fell short at the buzzer as both shooters marked 1-1 at the charity stripe.
Aki was the top gun for the Angels with a dozen points followed by Henry who tallied 10 points, eight coming in the second half and four in overtime.
Mahea Hanie-Grace ended with 8 points, Claypoole and McCabe each finished with four and a pair from Dreier rounded out the Angels’ math.
Connelly and Lagazo paced the Kaulupono scoring with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Jacinto, whose value came in moving the ball around the court, was held to 7 points, a field goal and 5-10 at the charity stripe.
Pairs from Cheyanne Duarte and Krysta Kali and a digit from Serarra Kaohi accounted for the Kaulupono scoring.
Earlier in the evening, Makana Fujimoto netted 9 points to lead the Lihu‘e Kamakazes to a 28-15 win over the Uptown Jammers.
Lauren Fernandez, Lacey Lucas, Taylor Garcia and Kylie Barba each netted four to help Fujimoto.
Jasmine Mariano had a trey in her 7 points to lead the Jammers’ scoring.
Gabrielle Salud, Mariah Spinden, Angelica Ganitano and Dayna Agustin each netted a pair to round out the Uptown effort.
