Seabury Hall of Maui broke tradition with a mid-season trip to Kaua‘i over the weekend. “Traditionally, we’ve always come before the season starts,” said Seabury head girls basketball coach Philip Tongg. “But this year we set our schedule around a
Seabury Hall of Maui broke tradition with a mid-season trip to Kaua‘i over the weekend.
“Traditionally, we’ve always come before the season starts,” said Seabury head girls basketball coach Philip Tongg. “But this year we set our schedule around a mid-season trip so we could get in some serious games after the season started.”
The Spartans concluded its three-game series on the Garden Island with a 39-18 win over Kaua‘i High School yesterday afternoon. Earlier in the week, Seabury was a 52-47 winner over Kapa‘a High School Friday night and added a 37-34 win over Waimea High School Saturday night.
“Even playing on Sunday is unorthodox for us,” Tongg said. “But this trip is significant for us. We could be facing any of these teams for the Div. II state title.”
Yacine Meyer, the Spartans’ high-pointer, amassed a total of 48 points over the three-game win streak.
The Garden Island teams, despite having to overcome a prom weekend schedule, came through and provided a tight series of games for the team from Makawao.
“We knew the Kaua‘i teams would give us some serious competition so we looked forward to this trip,” Tongg said.
On Friday night, Kapa‘a rolled to a 25-23 halftime lead behind the torrid shooting of Mailika Napoleon, Leilani Laranio and Poe Gantt. Laranio and Napoleon unleashed four bombs from beyond the three-point arc to break the Spartans’ zone defense in the opening half.
But Seabury exploded for a 21-10 final period with Tiana Barbier adding a three-pointer to the mix while picking up her game-total 7 points in the second half. Meyer, who finished with a game-high 19 points in the win, was held to just two second-half buckets, but netted 10 points in the comeback half for the Spartans with a perfect 6-for-6 performance at the charity stripe.
Chelsea Kikuchi was the Spartans’ answer to Napoleon, getting 8 of her game-total 10 points in the first quarter including a pair from three-pointland.
Napoleon led the Warriors with 16 points, her best shooting performance to date, followed by Gantt adding 10 points. Brittney Carvalho and Laranio each finished with seven points, and pairs from April Johnson, Jondi Das and Lehua McCabe rounded out the Kapa‘a scoring.
A Kikuchi three-point bomb in the final 20 seconds broke a 34-34 stalemate to give Seabury its three-point win over Waimea Saturday night.
As was the case with Kapa‘a, the Menehune held a 19-10 lead at the half before the Spartans roared back in the second half paced by Meyer who netted 15 of her game-total 19 points in that period.
Josey Jacinto, who awed the crowd with a buzzer-beating three-pointer in the first half Friday night, repeated the feat by nailing a pair of treys with Aiko Grande adding one from the outside to help lead Waimea to its first half lead.
Jacinto finished with high-point honors for Waimea with 10 points followed by Moani Durant adding 7 marks, 4 coming in the second half. Grande followed with 6 points and Cheri Kua finished with 4 points.
Meyers topped the Spartans’ win over Waimea with another 19-point performance followed by Barbier adding 9 points and Kikuchi finishing with 6 points. Emma Burns rounded out the win with 3 points.
Meyers took the lead Sunday with a 10-point performance to complete the Spartans’ sweep of the Garden Island.
The Raiders opened with a tight defensive pattern, but a Kaua‘i height disadvantage coupled with the deadly three-point shooting from Kikuchi and Barbier had Seabury taking control early in the contest.
Following Meyers, Kikuchi netted 9 points, all coming from outside the three-point arc, Lesley Smith snared a bunch of boards and netted 7 points. Barbier finished with 4 points followed by Anuhea Rilveria contributing 3 points and pairs from Burns, Kim Goodfellow and Talia Anama rounding out the win.
Monique Flores and Kori Masuda paced the Raiders’ effort with 4 points each followed by Carie Inouye netting 3 points. Pairs from Lauren James, Kathleen Cadiente and Britten Jacinto rounded out the effort.
James, entering on the first five-in, five-out switch, promptly picked up three turnovers, but could not capitalize while Tristen Rosare added a lot of hustle to the Raiders’ game.
The Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls return to normal schedule Tuesday night when Kaua‘i hosts Kapa‘a starting with the JV contest tipping off at 5:30 p.m.
