Varsity girls: Kapa‘a 48, Kaua‘i 30 LIHU‘E — A Kapa‘a sweep last night gave the Lady Warriors the first round title of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls basketball. Led by veteran player Mai’lika Napoleon, Kapa‘a racked up a 48-30 win
Varsity girls: Kapa‘a 48, Kaua‘i 30
LIHU‘E — A Kapa‘a sweep last night gave the Lady Warriors the first round title of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls basketball.
Led by veteran player Mai’lika Napoleon, Kapa‘a racked up a 48-30 win to claim the title in varsity play. In an earlier game, the junior varsity Warrior wahine saw Mahea Hanie-Grace and Reggie McCabe notch double-digit scoring to lead Kapa‘a to a 58-12 win over the fledgling Raiders.
“We had our brilliant moments,” said Kapa‘a coach Terry Maguire, following the win.
Kapa‘a jumped out to a 16-3 first quarter behind five points netted by Leina‘ala McCabe. But that was only after Kelsey Cadiente, rolling off two KIF soccer games earlier in the day, opened up the Raiders’ books with a bomb from outside the three-point arc.
Kaua‘i turned the tables in the second quarter when Maguire posted veteran Tori Tuttle to lead the Warrior battalion of reserves. Led by Janessa Grady’s six points, including a trey, and Kayla Werner’s four points, Kaua‘i trimmed a 13-point deficit by outscoring Kapa‘a 14-5 for a 21-17 deficit at the half.
“We had a really good first half,” said Kaua‘i coach Russell Grady, smiling at the advances shown by the Raider players.
Maguire inserted Tuttle and Napoleon in the third frame and Kapa‘a outscored Kaua‘i 20-4, holding the Raiders to just a field goal from Jori Jasper and a charity point from sisters Jennifer and Janessa Grady.
Napoleon took the lead with an 8-point showing in that frame before Kapa‘a’s reserves finished the game. Napoleon finished with a game-high 11 points including a first quarter trey.
Tuttle was joined by Leina‘ala and Jessilyn Artaho-Aki in scoring eight points apiece with Jondi Das adding five and Kira Nakamura coming off the bench for four points.
Werner led the Kaua‘i scoring with eight points followed by Jasper and Janessa finishing with six points apiece. Kelsey Cadiente added five, Kira Taylan finished with a pair and Kathleen Cadiente had a point.
With the win, Kapa‘a prepares to host Waimea for the start of Round 2 on Tuesday at the Bernice Hundley Gym. Tipoff for the JV game is 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity match.
Following Hanie-Grace and Reggie in the JV matchup, Krystal Christian finished with nine points and Ka‘anoe Marshall added eight points.
Kaua‘i low post Uila Ahasivi led the Raider effort with four points. Leah Emura, Melissa Miner, Liam Gregorio and Shyanne Sadora each posted a pair in the effort.
