KAPA‘A — It was an 8-1 run in the final minutes that propelled the Kapa‘a Lady Warriors to a 40-35 victory on opening night of the 2010 Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls basketball season, Tuesday at the Bernice Hundley Gym in
KAPA‘A — It was an 8-1 run in the final minutes that propelled the Kapa‘a Lady Warriors to a 40-35 victory on opening night of the 2010 Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls basketball season, Tuesday at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
Trailing 34-32, Mahea Hanie-Grace knocked down a 3-pointer from the right wing to give Kapa‘a a one-point lead.
After Bristy Ann-Agu knocked down one of two at the line to tie the game up at 35-35, Raquelle Matayoshi — who had just returned to the floor after having gone to the locker room earlier to treat a cut to her face — scored what proved to be the game-winning bucket, getting a lay-up in the paint off an inbounds play beneath the basket.
Reggie McCabe put Kapa‘a up by four with 48 seconds left off a feed from Hanie-Grace, who later knocked down a free throw for the five-point lead, which stood up for the final score.
Jessilyn Aki, the team’s lone senior, led Kapa‘a with 11 points. Hanie-Grace and McCabe each had 10 to pace the Lady Warriors.
Kaua‘i was led by Uila Ahosivi’s game-high 14 points. Agu added seven for the Raider.
Both teams started slowly, as Kaua‘i took a 7-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. Agu had five for the Raiders in the opening frame, including a traditional three-point play to end the period’s scoring.
Kaua‘i held on to its one-point edge in the second quarter, taking an 18-17 lead into halftime. The Raiders took advantage of some porous transition defense by the Warriors, getting eight of their 11 points in the quarter off the fast break. Ahosivi had six points in the quarter, all on lay-ups. McCabe also had six in the frame, finding some space in the middle of the Kaua‘i zone for a couple of short jumpers.
The Raiders got four more buckets in the third quarter in transition, including a three-point play for Kristle Henry. Kaua‘i grabbed its biggest lead of the night at 31-24, but Kapa‘a then stormed back with three straight hoops, two coming from Jessilyn Aki, to trail by one heading to the fourth at 31-30.
Aki made it six consecutive points for her as she opened the fourth with a fast-break lay-up. Kaua‘i left a number of points on the floor, as it went to the foul line on three straight possessions, but went just 1-of-6 from the stripe on those trips. Kaua‘i was 4 for 10 from the foul line in the fourth, including a miss on the front end of a one-and-one.
Jennifer Grady was able to knock down a pair to give the Raiders a 34-32 advantage, but that would be their last lead of the night as Hanie-Grace nailed the triple to start the closing run for Kapa‘a.
In the junior varsity game, Kaua‘i came away with a 33-30 win over Kapa‘a behind 11 points from Vinise Paua and 10 from Alyssa “Malu” Vegas.
Kapa‘a was led by Lele Silva and Kekai Gonsalves who each scored 10.
The Island School Voyagers hosted the Waimea Lady Menehune in the evening’s other season opener. Results from that varsity-only matchup were unavailable as of press time.
Kaua‘i (0-1) will have its home opener Thursday night as it hosts Island School in a varsity-only contest at 7 p.m.
Waimea will then take on Kapa‘a (1-0) on Friday at Waimea High School. Junior varsity will begin at 5:30 p.m. with varsity taking the court 20 minutes after that game’s conclusion.
