The Kauai Interscholastic Federation has produced some great athletes and elite players over the past few years. Anyone who’s been paying attention has recognized the talented few who seem capable of, or have gone on to play at the college
The Kauai Interscholastic Federation has produced some great athletes and elite players over the past few years. Anyone who’s been paying attention has recognized the talented few who seem capable of, or have gone on to play at the college level.
Across all KIF sports, one of the most accomplished student athletes has been Kristle Henry, who excelled on the basketball court for the Kauai High Raider Wahine. As a four-time All-KIF selectee, Henry was named conference Player of the Year in 2013 as Kauai took down the KIF championship and eventually finished third at the HHSAA Division II state tournament.
It was obvious to even a novice basketball eye that Henry had special talent. She was comfortable and calm on the court, able to handle the situational stresses of playing a variety of positions and having numerous responsibilities. While she was a steady ball handler and elite scorer, her team also needed her presence in the paint to be an above average rebounder and to lock down one of the opposing team’s top offensive threats.
Though she displayed the demeanor of a veteran for much of her career, it was her senior season when she further broke out and showcased another gear. Henry averaged 25 points per game in the 2013 HHSAA tournament, including a career-high 30 in a 51-42 quarterfinal win over Kailua. She followed that with 21 points in a 58-55 loss to Honokaa – Kauai’s first loss of the season – before scoring 24 in the third-place game, a 49-42 win over Hanalani.
Some players are volume scorers and accumulate numbers without much feel for the game. That was never the case for Henry, who played as if she was seeing everything one or two moves in advance. It was that cerebral ability, along with a quiet toughness that always stuck out to me. It’s why I’m not surprised that despite being just a freshman, Henry is currently a starter for the Chaminade University Silverswords.
It’s been a difficult season to this point for the Chaminade women, who entered Saturday night’s contest against Holy Names (result unavailable as of press time) with just a 3-20 record. But Henry has become a stalwart for the Silverswords after coming off the bench in four of her first five games. She has since started every game she has played and is averaging the fourth-most minutes (24.1) on the team.
Adjusting to a higher level of play is always the most difficult thing to recalibrate and it has shown in some of her numbers for the year, but Henry is averaging 8.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game. The team as a whole is shooting just 34.5 percent, so Henry’s 28.5 percent from the field is not that out of line with her teammates.
She had a season-high 15 points on Jan. 4 against Dixie State, also tying a season-high with seven rebounds.
Just like most freshmen, her shooting numbers are a little down and her turnover numbers are a little up, but being one of the youngest players and logging significant minutes will often result in those figures. Her numbers across the board have gone up since conference play began, showing an increase in confidence as the season has progressed.
Henry’s freshman classmate, Lilia Maio, has also been a standout this year, leading Chaminade in both scoring and rebounding with 11.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. In fact, of the team’s five top players in terms of minutes per game, Henry and Maio are freshmen and Kennedi Akana and Sabrina Angle are sophomores. So while this very young team is going through some growing pains this season under fourth-year head coach Bobby Keanini, there is plenty of reason for optimism about what’s on the horizon.
I’m sure Henry’s college career, as it did at Kauai High, will only continue to trend upward.
• ‘My Thoughts Exactly’ appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays in The Garden Island. Email David Simon your comments or questions to dsimon@thegardenisland.com. Follow David on Twitter @SimonTGI
