KAPA‘A — On a night with many heroes, Kapa‘a senior Jessilyn Aki had the final say with a buzzer-beating layup that gave the Lady Warriors the 2010-11 Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls basketball championship, 63-61 over the Kaua‘i Red Raiders, Monday
KAPA‘A — On a night with many heroes, Kapa‘a senior Jessilyn Aki had the final say with a buzzer-beating layup that gave the Lady Warriors the 2010-11 Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls basketball championship, 63-61 over the Kaua‘i Red Raiders, Monday night at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
With just over 10 seconds to play in a tie game, Aki took the ball the length of the floor, drove through the top of the Kaua‘i defense, got to the right side of the paint and converted off the glass just as the final horn sounded, sending the Warriors into a pile on the floor and the rest of the Kapa‘a faithful into a frenzy in the stands.
Aki took over the final 20 seconds of the game, scoring the last six Warrior points, including a pair of clutch free throws with 11.9 seconds to play that gave Kapa‘a a 61-60 lead.
Less than a minute earlier, the outcome looked like it would be very different, as Kaua‘i’s Kristle Henry nailed a 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining that gave the Raiders a 58-54 lead. Henry grabbed a long offensive rebound and found herself wide open on the right wing. Instead of nursing the clock with a one-point lead, she put up what appeared to be the dagger and buried it.
But Cherrilyn Coloma took a Kekai Gonsalves pass on the ensuing possession and banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to breathe life back into the Warriors’ title hopes. Aki then stole the inbounds pass and scored on a layup to give Kapa‘a an unlikely 59-58 advantage with 20 seconds to play.
Henry was then fouled and went to the line for a pair, which she calmly knocked down to give Kaua‘i the 60-59 lead with 18.7 seconds left, before Aki’s pair less than seven seconds later.
Kapa‘a’s Mahea Hanie-Grace was the game’s leading scorer with 28 big points, 18 of them in the first half.
Aki had 20 on the night, with 14 in the second half. Raquelle Matayoshi, Reggie McCabe, Coloma and Meleane Moala all had three points apiece, while Gonsalves and Ka‘anoi Marshall scored two and one point, respectively.
Henry topped Kaua‘i with 22 points, followed by 11 from Kawehi Louis-Diamond. Bristy-Ann Agu scored eight, as did Jennifer Grady. Kelsey Cadiente and Uila Ahosivi each had six points.
Kaua‘i trailed 40-33 late in the third quarter, but put together a 7-0 run to even things up just seconds into the fourth. The last eight minutes were neck and neck, with neither team holding more than a four-point lead at any point. There were five ties and seven lead changes in the fourth quarter, alone.
Fouls became an issue for both sides, with Kapa‘a’s McCabe and Matayoshi each fouling out on consecutive plays early in the period, while Kaua‘i’s Cadiente and Ahosivi each picked up their fifth fouls shortly after.
With 1:24 to play and the score tied at 54-54, Hanie-Grace committed her fifth foul and headed to the bench, which brought Coloma into the game to hit one of the night’s biggest shots.
Kaua‘i played a strong first quarter to take a 16-12 lead, then went up 20-14 on a Grady jumper midway through the second.
But the Warriors then went on a 15-4 run to close out the half, with Hanie-Grace scoring nine of those points, including a jumper just before the buzzer for a 29-24 lead at the break.
She found Aki for a fast-break layup in the third that gave Kapa‘a its biggest lead of the night at 40-33, but Kaua‘i scored the quarter’s final five points and got an emphatic blocked shot from Louis-Diamond to re-gain some of the momentum.
Tied at 42-42, McCabe nailed a 3-pointer, but committed her fifth foul seconds later.
Trailing 47-43, Kaua‘i scored seven straight points to move ahead 50-47, but driving layups from both Hanie-Grace and Aki knotted things up at 51-51.
The thrilling finish puts the Kapa‘a Lady Warriors into the HHSAA Div. II Girls Championships, which are scheduled to run Feb. 1-4 at the Blaisdell Arena on O‘ahu.
The boys take over the girls’ regular time slots as they now play Tuesday and Friday nights.
The Waimea Menehune will host the Kaua‘i Red Raiders tonight, with JV tipping at 5:30 p.m., followed by varsity at the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea.
The Kapa‘a Warriors will take on the Island School Voyagers in Kapa‘a, tonight at 7 p.m.
