HONOLULU — The Kapaa High School Lady Warriors defeated the Lady Saints of Saint Francis 60-55 Wednesday in their opening game of the Hawaiian Airlines/Hawaii High School Athletic Association State Tournament at Kaimuki High School. Kapaa was led by Kaylee
HONOLULU — The Kapaa High School Lady Warriors defeated the Lady Saints of Saint Francis 60-55 Wednesday in their opening game of the Hawaiian Airlines/Hawaii High School Athletic Association State Tournament at Kaimuki High School.
Kapaa was led by Kaylee Silva with 14 points, followed by the junior-varsity promoted Paea Tafea with 12. Uilani McCabe finished the game with 11 points.
St. Francis was led by junior forward Lacey Satele with 24 points. Seniors Alissa Pacarro scored 14 and Tayler Bellevou scored 10.
Kapaa enjoyed the height advantage in Silva, Maile Tuttle and Pesi Paua, but St. Francis seemed quicker.
Kapaa owned the first quarter, holding St. Francis to single digits at 14-8. But the Saints quickly turned up the offense at the start of the second with a pair of quick points from Bellevou and a 3-pointer from St. Francis’ Satele, bringing them within one at 14-13. The second quarter saw four ties and seven lead changes. It also proved to be the quarter in which Kapaa seemed the most frustrated, getting three players into foul trouble. They sent St. Francis to the line six times.
St. Francis trailed Kapaa 27-25 going into the half.
The Saints controlled the third quarter. Satele opened with a massive 3-pointer to take the lead and followed that up with another pair. That gave the Saints the momentum they needed to go on a scoring spree led by Satele. Behind Satele, St. Francis enjoyed their biggest lead of the night at 42-32. They entered the final quarter with the 44-37 lead.
But the lead was short-lived, as McCabe opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer of her own and quickly brought the Warriors within striking range, at 43-40. The Lady Warriors and the Saints kept it close until the final few minutes of the game. Both teams went on a dry spell with neither team scoring from the field. All the points in the final minutes came from the free-throw line.
The Warriors were able to take the lead and hold on to it as three of St. Francis’ players fouled out.
The Kauai Island Federation champions of Kapaa (7-2 KIF, 1-0 HHSAA) enjoyed their first triumphant return to the tournament since 2011 when they finished in fourth place. The Lady Warriors are playing in the Kaimuki bracket that includes top-ranked Honokaa, No. 4 Molokai, Kalani, University and St. Francis.
The farthest any KIF team made it into the tournament was Kauai High School in 2012 when the Red Raiders played in the championship against KS-Hawaii.
Kapaa now moves on to face Molokai at 5 p.m. tonight.
