WAIMEA — Waimea High School’s girls basketball team came out strong yesterday against Kaua‘i High School, even though they already won the first round of Kaua‘i Interscholastic play. The 45-41 final result may not reflect it, but Waimea (4-0) had
WAIMEA — Waimea High School’s girls basketball team came out strong yesterday against Kaua‘i High School, even though they already won the first round of Kaua‘i Interscholastic play.
The 45-41 final result may not reflect it, but Waimea (4-0) had big leads throughout the game. At one point, they led Kaua‘i (0-4) by 11 points.
“We wanted to finish this round strong so it would take us to the second round,” said Waimea’s Moani Durant, who posted a game-high 24 and was seven for seven on the free throw line.
Early on, Waimea capitalized on Kaua‘i’s turnovers, but most of the real action started in the fourth quarter when Kaua‘i enjoyed a late surge. It was 31-23 by the end of the third, but Kaua‘i cut that lead down to four points at 38-34 with five minutes left of play.
Waimea committed five turnovers in the fourth and Kaua‘i’s Kathleen Cadiente took off. She scored eight of her 13 points in the fourth.
“I set a personal goal for myself to improve myself because I really wanted us to win this game,” Cadiente said.
Waimea then regained control of the game with Durant pushing Waimea up to 45-34.
Kaua‘i would continue to fight back until the final minute. Cadiente launched a three-point buzzer beater to bring the game within four.
Waimea’s Nani Dennis had three points and five rebounds. Cheri Kua also had five rebounds.
Kaua‘i’s Carrie Innouye had 13 points and four rebounds.
Kaua‘i hosts Kapa‘a High School at Kaua‘i for the start of Round 2.
