LIHU‘E — In the third-place game of the Hawaiian Airlines HHSAA Div. II Girls Basketball State Championships, the Kapa‘a Lady Warriors were beaten by the Kahuku Red Raiders, 80-54, Friday morning at Blaisdell Arena on O‘ahu. Kapa‘a finishes the year
LIHU‘E — In the third-place game of the Hawaiian Airlines HHSAA Div. II Girls Basketball State Championships, the Kapa‘a Lady Warriors were beaten by the Kahuku Red Raiders, 80-54, Friday morning at Blaisdell Arena on O‘ahu.
Kapa‘a finishes the year with a 10-3 record after going 2-2 and finishing in fourth place at the HHSAA event.
Jessilyn Aki and Tori Tuttle each scored 12 points to lead Kapa‘a, which fell behind early and never got its offense going against the tough Kahuku squad, which finishes the year at 15-4.
Tuttle also brought down nine rebounds while Aki grabbed five steals.
Ala McCabe had eight points, 11 rebounds and three assists for the Lady Warriors, while Mahea Hanie-Grace had five points, three assists and four steals.
Layna Christian had four points, Kira Nakamura, Jodi Das and Ash-lyn Lee each scored three and Reggie McCabe and Lahela Creamer had two points apiece.
Jessica Falemalu scored 17 points for Kahuku, while Joshlyn Noga and Malia Tonga each had 10.
Points were not hard to come by in the first quarter, as the Red Raiders jumped out to a 25-18 lead after one and had doubled their lead at halftime with a 43-29 score.
A 21-11 third-quarter edge all but sealed the deal for Kahuku, which gave top-seeded Molokai a run for its money in Thursday’s semifinal meeting.
Kapa‘a shot just 21 of 74 from the field (28 percent) in the game, with Kahuku much more efficient at 35 of 68 (52 percent).
The Div. II championship went to Kaimuki after a 41-32 win over Molokai.
Kaimuki, the No. 2 seed, knocked Kapa‘a out of the tournament in the semifinals Thursday and then took out top-seeded Molokai in the final behind 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals from Deja Fa‘asoa, while Letishah Fa‘asoa had 11 points.
The low-scoring affair came down to the final quarter, as Molokai grabbed a 28-27 lead with 7:40 to play in the game, but back-to-back 3-pointers for Kaimuki sent it on a 14-4 run to close the matchup.
In the fifth-place matchup, Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy overcame an 11-point deficit after the first quarter to grab a 51-50 win over Kamehameha-Hawai‘i.
HPA played just five players in the game, with Tayler Wang going off for 28 points and 13 rebounds.
In Div. I, Lahainaluna was crowned as state champs after a 47-45 comeback win over Konawaena.
Trailing 37-26 late in the third quarter, the Lunas closed the game on a 21-8 run, with Milika Taufa scoring 15 of her game-high 26 points during that stretch.
