Varsity girls: Kapa‘a 51, Waimea 46 – WAIMEA — Tori Tuttle led Kapa‘a High School with a double-double, scoring 13 points and nabbing 10 rebounds, to bring the Lady Warriors to a 51-46 victory over Waimea High School in the
Varsity girls: Kapa‘a 51, Waimea 46 – WAIMEA — Tori Tuttle led Kapa‘a High School with a double-double, scoring 13 points and nabbing 10 rebounds, to bring the Lady Warriors to a 51-46 victory over Waimea High School in the girls basketball season opener at the Clem Gomes Gym.
Mai’lika Napoleon finished with 11 points, two rebounds and a block, and Jondi Das added 10 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Das was also a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
Playing in their first official game against each other since the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship last season, both team came out hard in the first quarter.
Waimea jumped to the lead early compliments of Jayme Jacinto and Aiko Grande who combined for four 3-pointers. The Lady Menehune finished that quarter 19-12.
It was Kapa‘a who gained momentum in the second quarter, outscoring Waimea 15-10, but it wasn’t enough to gain the lead by halftime. Kapa‘a trailed by as much as seven points and as few as one point.
Tuttle tied the game coming out of the half when she sunk both of her free throws to bring the score to 29-29.
Waimea’s Erin Connelly answered that by banking a layup. After snagging back-to-back rebounds, Tuttle was fouled and sent to the line again.
Kapa‘a finally got its lead when it went up a point at 34-33 with a score from Napoleon. Waimea’s Vakeesha Lagazo came up with big steal to bring the momentum back the other way.
A few plays later, Waimea got a big 3-pointer from Bristy-Ann Agu who tied the game again with 30 seconds left of the third. But Kapa‘a’s Layna Christian would get the last word of the quarter, scoring from underneath to reclaim the lead.
Grande led the Menehune with 16 points — five from the 3-point range and a free throw. Jacinto finished with 11 points — three 3-pointers and two free throws. Waimea’s Brandee Victorino had four rebounds.
Junior varsity girls: Kapa‘a 50, Waimea 33
Reggie McCabe led the junior varsity Lady Menehune in their 50-33 victory over Waimea in the earlier game. McCabe led all scorers finishing with 20 points. Teammates Mahea Hanie-Grace and Krystal Christian added 10 points apiece.
Waimea was led by Krystal Kali and Searra Kahi who both each scored eight points.
The next set of KIF games will be on Friday when the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders host Waimea starting at 5:30.
The girls next hit the court when Kaua‘i hosts Waimea on Saturday night.
