WAIMEA — Kapaa guard Jaliyah Casem peeled off five points and Paea Tafea added four points in the second quarter Tuesday night at the Clem Gomes Gym. The lead fueled an explosive quarter for the Warriors en route to a
WAIMEA — Kapaa guard Jaliyah Casem peeled off five points and Paea Tafea added four points in the second quarter Tuesday night at the Clem Gomes Gym.
The lead fueled an explosive quarter for the Warriors en route to a 41-24 win over the hosting Waimea Menehune.
“This was another slow start for us,” said William Aki, Kapaa coach. “But we stayed close and didn’t let the game get away from us.”
Waimea capitalized on this sluggish beginning, creating a lead and holding it until the waning seconds when Kapaa pulled off a 9-8 bulge at the buzzer fueled by four points from Tori “Laka” Daligcon. The Warrior wahine followed this with a 16-8 second quarter for a 25-16 lead at the break.
“We have to work on playing strong for the whole game, not just in spurts,” Daligcon said. “After the last game, coach told us he doesn’t want slow starts — no roller coaster games. I think we had a stronger mental game and that helped us win.”
From the break, Kapaa controlled the match and finished strong, capitalizing on Waimea losing two of its key players to fouls in the final three minutes.
Casem finished with 12 points, including a bomb from outside the three-point arc in the first quarter, and Tafea helped the win on 10 points and a lot of height on both the inside and outside. Daligcon followed with eight points, six dropping in the first half.
“Is it the challenge of the Kauai Interscholastic Federation?” Aki said. “It doesn’t matter what we say at practice, the results are the same — we start slow. It wasn’t like this during pre-season when the girls played strong throughout. We have two games remaining and I hope to see these girls come to play strong from tipoff to closing buzzer.”
Waimea, in addition to losing its key players to fouls, also saw guard Monique Joy Lorenzo drop to an injury in the first quarter, but not before contributing a digit to the Waimea scoring.
“We realized that we needed Monique out there,” Waimea coach Brandon Moises said. “The seniors stepped up play after she went out.”
Schae-Marie Tavita topped the Waimea scoring with seven points, including a third quarter trey, before fouling out, and Brandee Burton, doing her job as guard, marked six points, including an opening quarter three-ball, before buzzing out with three minutes left to play. Both girls were limited to the three points Waimea scored in the final stanza before fouling out.
Apryl Joy Grande was moved up from the junior varsity ranks and dropped a bucket in the third frame, her value coming in moving the ball in the absence of Lorenzo.
“We’ve got just two more games to play as a team,” Moises said. “The girls have played hard. I see them trying to understand that varsity is for those who are ready to play. We’re going to keep playing, keep going, and not quit until the end.”
Earlier in the evening, Kapaa junior varsity posted a 53-44 win over the Waimea JV behind 23 points from Mele Tafea, and 10 points from Keai Tolenoa. Waimea’s Kiarra Palacio posted a game-high 24 points followed by Starlyn Ripley adding nine marks.
Kapaa next faces Kauai High School on Friday at the Bernice Hundley Gym with the JV match tipping off at 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity.
“We don’t want people to get confused and go to Kauai High School, or Island School,” Aki said. “Based on a phone conversation we got from Kauai Hgh School, the game is in Kapaa. Kauai will be the home team, but the game will be played at Kapaa.”
