KAPA‘A — Basketball is in full swing at Kapa‘a High School. Four games took the floor Monday night as coach Philip Baclayon and Willy Aki hosted the annual Green-and-White basketball game featuring the Junior Varsity boys and girls teams as
KAPA‘A — Basketball is in full swing at Kapa‘a High School.
Four games took the floor Monday night as coach Philip Baclayon and Willy Aki hosted the annual Green-and-White basketball game featuring the Junior Varsity boys and girls teams as well as the Varsity boys and girls teams on the floor.
The event not only gave the players an opportunity to show their skills following the start of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation Nov. 21 start date (for tryouts), it also added funds to the basketball program through concession sales.
“We’ve made some cuts already,” said Baclayon, doubling as one of the court officials. “But we might need to do more.”
He was referring to the boys program which saw a good number of players split into the White and Green teams.
For the varsity girls, Aki had a tentative starting five take on the secondaries.
“I thought the White (starting five) would be dominating the game,” said one of the JV boys players. “But the other girls are holding their own. It’s not a blowout.”
Since the Nov. 21 start date, Kapa‘a has hosted two tournaments and has another, the Kapa‘a Warrior Boys Tournament, scheduled to start Thursday.
During the Dec. 1 to 3 period, the Warrior wahine will be on Maui for the Seabury Hall tournament.
Seabury comes to Kaua‘i on Dec. 28, joining the Ka‘u High School and Kohala High School boys in a final tournament, Dec. 28 through Dec. 30, before the KIF boys open its season in January 2012.
“This is a lot of basketball,” Baclayon said. “But we also have some great quality teams visiting the island.”
During the girls tournament, Kapolei High School and Maui High School tangled with the Kapa‘a wahine team and starting Thursday, the Kapa‘a boys will mix it up with visiting teams McKinley, the defending tournament champions, Lahainaluna, University and Moloka‘i, a newcomer to the tournament.
The Warrior boys White team will square off against Moloka‘i starting at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, followed by the Kapa‘a Green going up against Lahainaluna at 6:30 p.m.
The KIF girls season starts Dec. 13 when Kapa‘a varsity girls travel to the Island School gym for a single game. At the same time, Kaua‘i High School will be in Waimea with the JV game tipping off at 5:30 and the varsity game starting approximately 20 minutes following the JV match.
The KIF boys season starts Jan. 4, 2012 when the Kapa‘a JV boys travel to Island School for an exhibition match. At the same time, Kaua‘i will travel to Waimea for the season opener, the JV game tipping off at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity match tipping off approximately 20 minutes following the completion of the JV contest.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
