KALAHEO — The Kilauea Hui overtook Wailua 40-23 as the Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association girls returned to the hardwood Tuesday night at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center, following a week’s layoff. Earlier in the evening, the Kalepa Hillsiders held off a
KALAHEO — The Kilauea Hui overtook Wailua 40-23 as the Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association girls returned to the hardwood Tuesday night at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center, following a week’s layoff.
Earlier in the evening, the Kalepa Hillsiders held off a strong Southwest Boyz “B” effort to keep its win streak alive, 43-38. In game two of the triple bill at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center, the Southwest Boyz “A” redeemed their “B” team loss with a 51-43 showing over a physical Wailua squad.
“It wasn’t an easy win,” Kalepa coach Peter Rayno said. “We had to come back from behind. Every game has been close, so far. We’ve been lucky.”
The Hui see-sawed with the Wailua greenshirts, outgunning Wailua 8-5 in the opening frame, but coming up short 12-6 in the second period to take a 17-14 deficit at the half.
But Kieren Pond nailed 10 of her game-total dozen points in the third period as the Hui defense shut down Wailua and limited the greenshirts to just six second-half points en route to the win.
Pond topped all scorers with her 12 points followed by Sarah Tangalin adding 10 points. Danielle Jure finished with 8 points, Claire Owens finished with 7 points and Kapua Chandler had 6 points with a strong presense in the paint.
Kimiko Kuwabara added 3 points and pairs from Caroline Troutman and Kirstie Daly rounded out the win, both Troutman and Daly showing strong defense against Wailua.
Michelle Toy, former Kapa‘a High School guard, paced the Wailua effort with 8 points followed by Destiny Smith chipping in 6 points. Chelsie Villatora finished with 4 points, and pairs from Martha Boiser and Chanita Makanui rounded out the effort, Makanui defensively controlling the boards for Wailua in the first half.
Braxton Garma had a three-point bomb and a bucket, and James Sagucio nailed three buckets to give Southwest Boyz “B” a 21-18 halftime lead over the Kalepa Hillsiders in the opening contest.
But the momentum switched in the second half as Kalepa drew six points from Travis Stine to erase the deficit, outgunning the “B” team 14-4.
The “B” team came back with a 13-11 final period but couldn’t overtake Kalepa, preserving the yellowshirts’ undefeated standing in the league.
Stine finished with 15 points to lead the Kalepa win. He was followed by Kaleo Cummings who added 8 points. John Beralas and Aric Cansino each chipped in 6 points. Ian Lactaotao and Travis Kanete each finished with pairs and a digit from Pono Cummings, the youngest member of the yellowshirts, rounded out the win.
Garma and Sagucio finished at the top of the “B” team scoring with 10 and 8 points, respectively.
Ikaika Rowan followed with 5 points, Kasey Okihara had 4 points, Kalen Kali-Abihai and McDonald Alop each chipped in 3 points, and a pair from Sean Inouye rounded out the effort.
Clareson Torres was on fire for the Southwest Boyz “A,” finishing with 14 points to lead its victory over Wailua. Tyrus Ceria-Lux, Chris Salvador and Keelan Sakuda followed with 8 points each.
Kyle Achuela finished with 5 points, and a pair from Brycen Kato rounded out the win.
Curran Doctolero had a game-high 15 points to lead the Wailua effort. He was followed by David Mendes who came up with 10 hard-fought marks. Matt Lindsey finished with 8 points, Davin Chong added 6 points, and pairs from T.J. Tacbian and Kimo Aiu rounded out the effort.
KYBA games continue tonight at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center with three games on tap starting at 6 p.m.
