‘Nail biter’ opens 3 G’s Nation

KAPA‘A — A 1-2(2) salvo opened the 3 G’s Nation 11 and Under basketball season Monday night in Kapa‘a.

“It was a nail-biter,” said Gee’s Angels’ coach Cecil Gee, following their 15-14 win over Wailua at the Kapa‘a High School Gym. “It was so close, I actually had to use my clipboard.”

The court battle featured Gee’s Angels’ Kristle Henry, a veteran of many age divisions, battling a more petite Kekai Gonsalves from Wailua.

With both girls donning No. 1 for their teams, the battle of the guards was settled late in the game when Henry netted three quick buckets for the go-ahead as the girls in blue settled into a protect-the-ball stance to run out the final ticks.

Henry went on to score 13 of the Angels’ 15 game points with Riana Ralston netting the remaining pair, her score coming in the opening quarter.

For Wailua, Gonsalves was joined by Kailee Carillo who donned the No. 22 jersey for the greenshirts.

With Carillo anchoring the low post position and key in defense, and Gonsalves taking the outside position, both teams waged a stalemated contest until late in the second period when a Henry bucket gave the Angels’ a 7-5 halftime lead.

Carillo pulled Wailua back into the fray, netting two buckets in the third period. Joined by goals from Gonsalves and Jenna Iwasaki, the buzzer sounded on a 13-13 stalemate.

That put the Angels into a full-court pressure defense, and despite six chances at the free throw line, Wailua was only able to manage a digit in the final period.

Carillo topped the Wailua scoring followed by Gonsalves, Iwasaki and Cierra Kinoshita nailing pairs. A digit from Courtney Higa rounded out the math in the opening contest.

In the second contest featuring the Lihu‘e Kamakaze coached by Keven Hanano matching up against Kaulupono with coach Bobby Kamakele and Pedro Saligumba at the helm, Kaulupono outshot the Kamakaze to take a 22-20 win in overtime.

All games are played in four six minute-quarter, stop-time format.