KAPA‘A — Waimea suffered its first loss, 39-31, last night. Kapa‘a took control from the opening tipoff, and despite the Menehune pulling ahead four times in the contest, the Warrior wahine utilized an aggressive defensive coupled with ball and tempo
KAPA‘A — Waimea suffered its first loss, 39-31, last night.
Kapa‘a took control from the opening tipoff, and despite the Menehune pulling ahead four times in the contest, the Warrior wahine utilized an aggressive defensive coupled with ball and tempo control to open the second round of Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls basketball.
“Kapa‘a finally one,” Gregg Gonsalves, Kapa‘a’s athletic director, said as he watched the Warrior ladies quietly celebrate their victory.
Brittney Carvalho, suffering the consequences of several bouts with heavy traffic exerted by the Waimea defense, paced the Kapa‘a win with not only her game-high 18 points, but numerous defensive efforts.
Lehua McCabe, igniting the crowd with a three-point bomb with 1:26 left in the contest, finished with 7 points followed by Poe Gantt chalking up 6 points in addition to her numerous boards and defensive efforts. Pairs from April Johnson, Jondi Das, Leilani Laranio and Mailika Napoleon rounded out the victory.
Waimea first took the lead in the second quarter when Tatum Gonsalves was the recipient of a three-point play to pull the Menehune out 17-15 only to have Carvalho neutralize the lead.
Coming out of a 19-17 halftime deficit, Gonsalves got another three-point play to pull the Menehune out 20-19.
A trey from Ho‘onani Dennis gave Waimea its third lead, 25-23, in the third frame.
With just 58 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Cheri Kua was 1-for-2 at the charity line for a 26-25 lead.
But the final quarter belonged to Kapa‘a who held the Menehune to just 5 points — a Moani Durant bucket and 3-for-5 at the free throw line.
Durant finished with high-point honors for Waimea, netting 9 points followed by Dennis chalking up 8 points.
Gonsalves finished with 7 points and a pair of three-point bombs gave Josey Jacinto 6 points.
A digit from Kua rounded out the math.
Waimea hosts Kaua‘i Friday night with the JV game tipping off at 5:30 p.m.
