KALAHEO — Bristy-Ann Agu had 16 points in the first game and 15 in a second, but that effort came up short as the Kamikaze dropped both ends of its doubleheader, Thursday, in the 5th Annual Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association
KALAHEO — Bristy-Ann Agu had 16 points in the first game and 15 in a second, but that effort came up short as the Kamikaze dropped both ends of its doubleheader, Thursday, in the 5th Annual Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association Invitational.
Agu led the Kamikaze in its 45-33 opening loss against the Kaulupono Girls and continued her showing in Lihu‘e’s 48-19 showing against the Wahine Tigers in the nightcap drop.
Two costly turnovers and a bad pass in the final two minutes of play proved costly to Ikaika Basketball against the Gee’s Angels who took a 33-26 win over the visiting team coached by Clay Tang at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
Arrisa Thronas played a solid assertive game on both sides of the ball for Kaulupono as she joined Kelsey Cadiente in leading the team to its opening win.
Thronas followed Cadiente, the go-to girl on breakaway plays, with a dozen points. Cadiente led the team with 13 points.
That pair was joined with good play from Jennifer Grady and Taylor Garcia who provided the team with good basic play on the court.
“Jennifer is going to become a real asset to a team,” said Maynard Shay, a long-time basketball coach who refereed the contest with Gene Padilla. “I told her mother that she has the potential of becoming a solid player because she has good basics.”
Garcia, who got a reassuring pat on the back after giving up an Agu bucket late in the game from Cheyanne Duarte, finished with 8 points followed by Grady netting 5 points.
For the Kamikaze, the loss was costly as one of its key players, Lacey Lucas, succmbed to an injury late in the third quarter.
Lucas left the game for an ice-down, but after taking the court in the final period, crumbled to the injury, benching her for the remainder of the night.
Tang’s visiting Ikaika Basketball was limited to a seven-player roster, but the tenacious redshirts played solid defense only to have trouble capitalizing on scores after meeting up with a taller Gee’s Angels squad.
Giving up two quick buckets to Uila Langi and Mahea Hanie-Grace early in the game, Ikaika settled in with solid defense that kept the Angels within reach until the final two minutes of play.
Trailing by as close as four points in the final period, two costly turnovers and a bad pass kept the ball on the Angels’ side of the court.
Hanie-Grace and Jessilyn Aki paced the Angels’ win with 10-point showings while Ikaika got balanced scoring from Taylor Wong, Alyssa Obata and Joyce Lam who each bucketed 6 points in the effort.
Aki, a Kapa‘a High School junior varsity player, caught the eye of Shay who commented on her development as a basketball player from her first foray onto the court.
Kelina Wolfe had 13 points and Kilihea Inaba finished with 10 points to lead the Wahine Tigers to its win over the Kamikaze in the night’s final game.
Yesterday, Wolfe led the Wahine Tigers in one game with 10 points, but the Tigers fell to the Gee’s Angels, 45-23, and dropped its second game to Ikaika Basketball 41-22 as the visiting team from O‘ahu got 15 points from Wong.
The Angels, who went on to blank the Kamikaze 40-0, had a strong showing from the Hanie-Grace, Aki combination against the Tigers with 13 points each. Against the Kamikaze, Langi had high-point honors with 12 points followed by Hanie-Grace and Krystle Henry adding 7 points each.
In the dual loss, Keahi Akina added 9 points to Wolfe’s effort against the Angels and Skylar Mendoza and Stevie Takata finished with 8 and 6 points, respectively against Ikaika.
Earlier yesterday, Ikaika redeemed its Thursday night loss to edge Kaulupono Girls 29-24 behind 7 points from Wong and 8 points from Cris Sasano.
With the results of yesterday’s matches, Gee’s Angels are in the lead at 3-0 with Ikaika Basketball challenging at 2-1.
Action in the tournament continues through this morning at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
