WAIMEA — Saturday night’s first round playoff came down to the wire and the back-and-forth battle ended with the Kapa‘a Lady Warriors victorious in a 44-42 slugfest with the Waimea Lady Menehune at Waimea High School. The Warriors’ Mahea Hanie-Grace
WAIMEA — Saturday night’s first round playoff came down to the wire and the back-and-forth battle ended with the Kapa‘a Lady Warriors victorious in a 44-42 slugfest with the Waimea Lady Menehune at Waimea High School.
The Warriors’ Mahea Hanie-Grace led her team with 11 points — eight of them coming in the fourth quarter.
Ala McCabe scored nine points and Jessilyn Aki had eight. Tori Tuttle and Reggie McCabe each chipped in six.
Waimea’s Jayme Jacinto led all scorers with 16, followed by Menehune forward Erin Connelly with 13. Brandee Victorino scored seven.
After trailing for much of the second half, Kapa‘a tied the game at 33-33 on a Hanie-Grace 3-pointer with 6:17 to play. Waimea then scored two quick buckets, including a leaner from Connelly to re-gain a four-point edge.
Trailing 39-38, the Warriors’ Jessilyn Aki got a steal at midcourt, then finished the play with a layup to give Kapa‘a its first lead since early in the third quarter.
Up by two with 37 seconds to play, Aki was fouled and went to the line to shoot two. Each shot came off the iron and Waimea secured the defensive rebound, but turned the ball back over to Kapa‘a.
Hanie-Grace was fouled with 15 seconds to play and her team clinging to a 42-40 advantage.
The first free throw missed the mark, as did the second, but she followed her shot, grabbed the offensive board and made the short floater in the paint to make it a two-possession game with just seconds remaining.
Waimea’s Jayme Jacinto went the length of the court for a layup to make it a two-point game with two seconds still on the clock.
After a Lady Menehune timeout, Waimea actually came up with a steal on the inbounds and the ball found its way into the hands of Brandee Victorino.
She turned towards the rim and had a good look at the tying bucket, but the eight-footer came up short, leading to an eruption from the Kapa‘a bench and Warrior fans in attendance.
The dramatic finish was fitting for the tightly-contested game, which sends the KIF girls basketball season into its second round.
Waimea will remember missed opportunities from the free-throw line, going 9 for 23 as a team on the night. They made 3 of 8 in the fourth quarter.
The game started off in a defensive struggle with neither team scoring until a Victorino three-point play for Waimea with 5:27 to play in the opening quarter.
Kapa‘a did not get on the board until Ala McCabe hit a jumper with 3:19 on the clock in the first.
The Lady Warriors held a four-point lead after Ala hit a triple late in the second, but Waimea scored the half’s final five points, including a Jacinto 3-pointer, to take a 24-23 lead into the locker room.
Round Two of girls action will begin Tuesday, when Kapa‘a will host the Kaua‘i Red Raiders with JV getting underway at 5:30 p.m., followed by varsity.
The Waimea JV girls will host Island School JV in an exhibition game at 5:30 p.m.
In varsity boys action, the Kaua‘i Red Raiders improved their record to 4-1 with a 44-39 victory over the Waimea Menehune at the Kaua‘i High School Gym.
The loss drops Waimea to 2-3.
Results from the varsity boys game between the Kapa‘a Warriors and Island School Voyagers, as well as the Kaua‘i-Waimea JV game were not available as of press time.
Boys are back in action Wednesday, with Waimea hosting Kapa‘a. JV will take the floor at 5:30 p.m., followed by varsity.
The Raiders will head to Island School to tangle with Voyagers in a varsity-only evening at 6:30 p.m.
