LIHUE — The Red Raiders got a late surge to finish their first round with a home win. Kauai High School’s varsity girls basketball team defeated Waimea, 34-30, Tuesday evening in Lihue. “I thought, especially down the stretch, we made
LIHUE — The Red Raiders got a late surge to finish their first round with a home win.
Kauai High School’s varsity girls basketball team defeated Waimea, 34-30, Tuesday evening in Lihue.
“I thought, especially down the stretch, we made enough smart plays and the right kinds of plays to pull out a close ball game. That was a close one,” said Kauai head coach James Dingus. “It was either team’s game. We just squeaked it out.”
Tied at 28-28 late in the fourth quarter, Kauai (2-2 KIF) drew a foul to get sent to the free throw line. Soon after, Waimea drew a technical foul to give Kauai another pair of free throws and retained possession.
Red Raiders sophomore guard Cierra Tanicala hit two free throws and sophomore center Taegan Keep made one. Keep then got a layup in the ensuing possession to give Kauai High a quick five-point advantage.
“That’s a huge swing in the game at that point. It was ‘chewing on your fingernails time.’ Getting that push with five, the girls stepped up and made those free throws. That was a big moment of growth,” Dingus said. “I didn’t really see what happened, so I’m not exactly sure of the technical. He called it, and we took advantage of it. You can’t control the referees, so you just take advantage of the opportunity.”
Menehune sophomore guard Monique Joy Lorenzo got a steal and a fast break layup to cut the deficit, but Waimea couldn’t close the gap in the closing seconds.
“It’s a good practice for what’s to come for these girls. All these moments, technical fouls and what not, are going to be building blocks to make them better young women. Grow from their mistakes, learn from it, come back again and be better. That’s all we can ask for,” said Waimea head coach Brandon Moises. “Things like that are going to happen. They’re human. They played with emotion, and that’s all we can ask for from our players. Now, it’s fine-tuning that emotion and playing a little bit smarter.
Waimea lead for a majority of the game. Moises said though the loss was tough, it proves his team is not far off from getting on the winning side.
“Once again, we’re going home knowing we can contend in the league. Key moments, key turnovers and mental mistakes, it’s costly at the end. Putting ourselves in a position where we let other people dictate the outcome of the game,” he said. “We told the girls to forget about the negatives and look at the positives. We’ll come back and work hard.”
Kauai was without senior guard Marissa Martinez, who suffered an ankle injury in the team’s previous game. Dingus said she is day-to-day and is hopeful she will be ready when the team starts its second round.
“She practiced yesterday, and she was pretty tender on it and had a hard time going full speed. It got more swollen last night. So, just trying to rest and get healthy,” Dingus said.
Keep had a double-double 15 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks for Kauai. Senior guard Malyssa Manera had eight points and four steals.
Lorenzo had nine points and two steals for Waimea. Senior forward Brandee Burton had eight points, four steals and three rebounds.
Waimea won the junior varsity game, 39-19. Menehune sophomore guards Kiarra Palacio and D’annalynn Helgen each scored 10 points. Red Raiders sophomore guard Kaylee Braum also scored 10 points.
“They played better defense. That was our goal for the game — to basically not foul all game and play good defense. They achieved that goal,” said Waimea JV coach Natalie Mata.
Waimea (0-3 KIF) will host first-round winner Kapaa (3-0 KIF) on Friday to complete the season’s first round. The JV game will begin 5:30 p.m. and the varsity will follow.
