LIHU‘E — Mahea Hanie-Grace continued her double-digit scoring, Tuesday night. The big difference was Hanie-Grace played in two games to finish with her night’s tally of 10 points in Kapa‘a’s sweep at the Kaua‘i High School gym. Kapa‘a wrapped up
LIHU‘E — Mahea Hanie-Grace continued her double-digit scoring, Tuesday night.
The big difference was Hanie-Grace played in two games to finish with her night’s tally of 10 points in Kapa‘a’s sweep at the Kaua‘i High School gym.
Kapa‘a wrapped up a 45-35 win over Kaua‘i in the varsity matchup and rolled past the JV girls 46-8.
Hanie-Grace played the dispatcher in the JV contest and sent the ball to the inside as well as cleaned up the floor for a total of 6 points in that match.
Then, switching to the varsity jersey Hanie-Grace joined her varsity sisters to finish 4-4 from the charity stripe for her 10 points.
“She’s been practicing with both teams every day,” said Gary Maguire, whose wife Terry is the Kapa‘a coach. “She actually tried out for the varsity squad, but the coaches felt that she should try playing at least five games with the JV squad.”
Gary said having Hanie-Grace move to the varsity squad gives the team added strength in the ball-handling department because Hanie-Grace is a strong penetrating point guard.
Leihua McCabe, sporting bright orange socks, paced the Lady Warriors with a game-high 11 points, including netting 8 of Kapa‘a’s 10 first quarter points.
Sitting on a 19-16 halftime lead, Kaua‘i surprised the Warriors by taking the lead on a Kayla Werner bucket as Kaua‘i capitalized on a Warrior turnover in the third frame.
Kelsey Cadiente followed with a three-point bomb from 9 o’clock to give Kaua‘i a 21-19 bulge.
Kapa‘a regrouped and a charity pair by Mai’lika Napoleon at the 4:06 mark saw the game tied at 21-21.
Tori Tuttle swung the lead in Kapa‘a’s favor with back-to-back buckets as the Warrior defense kept the ball in green territory.
“I didn’t think the girls would give me a heart attack,” Terry said following the game. “This is the second straight tight game for us. It was a good thing we worked on the press.”
Kaua‘i stayed close until the final two minutes when Kapa‘a pulled ahead with unanswered buckets from Jondi Das, Napoleon and Hanie-Grace sealing the win with a charity pair.
Following Leihua, Napoleon finished with 10 points followed by Leina‘ala McCabe adding 9 points and Tuttle finishing with 8 points after battling for boards with Werner throughout the night.
Kelsey topped the Raider scoring with 9 points followed by Werner tapping in 8 points. Jori Jasper, Werner’s counterpart under the boards, finished with four points along with Rachel Hamamoto and Kathleen Cadiente. Jennifer Grady, Janessa Grady and Kanani Dreier each paired.
With the win, Kapa‘a travels to Waimea, Saturday.
The JV game tips off at 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity matchup.
