KALAHEO — Taylon Yadao, Rhylen Yadao-Purisima and Noah Sasil dropped buckets in the final 90 seconds to pull Papalina-Blue to a 33-28 win over Kaulupono, Tuesday night. Sasil, sporting flashy blue shoes, finished with a game-high 25 points to lead
KALAHEO — Taylon Yadao, Rhylen Yadao-Purisima and Noah Sasil dropped buckets in the final 90 seconds to pull Papalina-Blue to a 33-28 win over Kaulupono, Tuesday night.
Sasil, sporting flashy blue shoes, finished with a game-high 25 points to lead Papalina-Blue in the county’s 11 and Under Winter Basketball League. Yadao and Yadao-Purisima each finished with four points, including the critical last-second buckets.
Kiarra Palacio, following in the footsteps of her older sister Nicole and brother Brandon, both strong players for the Waimea High School program, topped the Kaulupono scoring with a dozen points.
The game tightened up in the second half when Kaulupono battled back from a 14-8 halftime deficit.
Taegan Keep, alternating and sharing low post duties with Jasmine Santella, finished with 10 points, followed by Santella dropping her game-total six points in the final two periods.
Earlier, Carl Mecham posted a game-high 17 points to lead Lepo Ula to a 33-20 win over the West Kaua‘i Hornets, who were led by Irish Pascua’s nine points.
Mecham was followed by Kicah Acoba ending with seven points and Justin Fune adding four points.
Pascua’s nine points were followed by Yves Villanueva’s four points and Jhanelmar Cadiz notching three points.
Kamikaze center Hinarava Tafiti and Monique Tomacder led the redshirts’ 27-17 win over Papalina-White in the finale, as the Papalina-White were overcome by the Kamikaze height and effective zone defense.
Tafiti, active on the boards, finished the night with eight points for the Kamikaze, followed by Tomacder with seven points. Sandrea Chung added four points in the win.
Travis Miguel topped the Papalina-White scoring with five points followed by Noah Thompson and Braden Pagador each finishing with four points.
Kaulupono girls and the Kamikaze are the only two all-girl teams in the league’s 11-team field.
The county’s 11 and Under student-athletes take the floor Saturday at the Kilauea Neighborhood Center for six games starting at 9 a.m.
The Kaua‘i Ballers open the day against Team Central at 9 a.m., followed by the Kamikaze taking on the West Kaua‘i Hornets at 10 a.m.
Team Lihu‘e 2 goes up against Papalina-Blue starting at 11 a.m., followed by Papalina-White matching up against Team Lihu‘e at noon.
Hanakila opens the afternoon against Westside Basketball starting at 1 p.m. and Kaulupono wraps up the day against Lepo Ula starting at 2 p.m.
The league is sponsored by the county’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation and the public is invited to view the competition at no charge.
