WAIMEA — The Red Raiders got their first win of the season on the road Friday evening. Kauai High School’s varsity girls basketball team defeated the Menehune, 43-29, at Waimea High School. “I thought the girls … did on the
WAIMEA — The Red Raiders got their first win of the season on the road Friday evening.
Kauai High School’s varsity girls basketball team defeated the Menehune, 43-29, at Waimea High School.
“I thought the girls … did on the court what they’ve been practicing, which is great to see,” said Red Raiders head coach James Dingus. “They ran our offense. Not as much full-court pressing, maybe, as we did on Tuesday (against Kapaa), but in our half-court defense they were moving around, contesting shots and getting loose balls. And we talked about having that high-energy, and they brought it tonight. It was a fun win.”
Kauai (1-1 KIF) got in the bonus rather early and made it count on the free throw line. The Red Raider girls made 18 of 24 attempts.
Waimea made six of 10 free throw attempts.
“The girls did a nice job stepping up at the line, accepting that challenge and knocking down those free throws” Dingus said.
Menehune head coach Brandon Moises said though the loss is disappointing and is not the way he hoped to start the season, the mistakes his team made can be improved on.
“Everything that we saw tonight is fixable. It’s nothing that we walk away from and go, ‘Damn, we cannot control it,’” Moises said. “With Waimea, we’re never going to look pretty in what we do. We just got to be better at doing it.
“We knew we were going to foul. We knew were going to go after it. We wanted to be physical but smart,” he said. “We got to come back and show a stronger showing against Kapaa. We challenged the girls to come back and be a better team on Monday. Let’s see how it goes.”
Moises added that Red Raiders sophomore center Taegan Keep made a big contribution the Kauai’s win.
“Taegan made the difference. I think her size and her hustle, and our inability to play as a cohesive team, made the difference in the second half tonight,” he said. “We made her work for her shots, but you got to stay focused the whole time you’re guarding her. You cannot take a break on defense, and you got to do it cohesively.”
Keep had a double-double for the Red Raiders with 21 points and 14 rebounds. She also had two blocks. Junior guard Malyssa Manera had eight points, two assists and two steals.
“I think our team did well by using our strengths as individuals and playing as a team,” Keep said. “We have guards that can shoot, and they can fast break. They have the speed. We have a lot of all-around players.”
Menehune sophomore guard Monique Joy Lorenzo had nine points and four assists for Waimea. Junior forward Shania Kahepuu had six points and three rebounds. Senior forward Brandee Burton had five points, seven rebounds and an assist.
Waimea won the junior varsity contest, 30-27.
Waimea (0-1 KIF) will next play at Kapaa (1-0 KIF) on Tuesday. The JV game will begin 5:30 p.m. and the varsity will follow. Kauai will next play at Kapaa on Dec. 29.
