KAPA‘A — In a must-win situation, the Kapa‘a Warrior girls basketball team played its best game of the season for three and a half quarters. But it was a four-minute relapse that doomed the Warrior Wahine. A hot Kapa‘a start
KAPA‘A — In a must-win situation, the Kapa‘a Warrior girls basketball team played its best game of the season for three and a half quarters. But it was a four-minute relapse that doomed the Warrior Wahine.
A hot Kapa‘a start wasn’t enough to counter undefeated Kaua‘i, as the Red Raiders used a strong end of the third quarter to push past the Warriors, 50-40, Tuesday night at Kapa‘a High School.
Warrior head coach Willy Aki said practices this week were inspired, knowing that Tuesday night would be Kapa‘a’s last chance at staving off elimination.
The hard week of practice paid off in the early minutes, as the Warriors jumped in front to a 7-1 lead in the first few minutes. But the Raiders countered back and made it out of the quarter with a 12-10 lead.
The two teams played cat and mouse in the second quarter, with the Raiders entering halftime with a 20-14 lead.
A mere six point deficit kept the Warriors hopeful, but the Raiders caught fire in the third quarter.
Kaua‘i outscored the Warriors 18-8 in the quarter — led by a 13-2 run.
The Warriors outplayed the Raiders in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Red Raiders 16-12, but the third quarter lapse was just too much for the girls in green to make up.
“We just let them get too far ahead of us tonight, and we couldn’t catch up with them,” Aki said. “All these seniors on our team were inspired to win. We still had our chances if we won tonight, and that was our inspiration.”
Senior Reggie McCabe led the Warriors with 14 points, but it was her defense that helped keep the Warriors in the game.
“She did a very fine job for us tonight,” Aki said. “They wanted to win and she played a heck of a game for us on both ends of the floor.”
McCabe’s effort just wasn’t strong enough to counter Kaua‘i’s Krystle Henry and Kawehi Louis-Diamond. Henry led all scorers with 15 points, while Louis-Diamond controlled the paint and added 13 of her own points.
Louis-Diamond played aggressive underneath the basket on offense, and contributed several key rebounds and blocks for the Red Raiders.
Bristy Agu added eight points for the Red Raiders.
Following up McCabe’s effort for the Warriors was Ka‘anoi Marshall, whose six points were highlighted by a three-pointer.
Louis-Diamond played aggressive underneath the basket for the Red Raiders and contributed several key rebounds and blocks.
That defense was crucial, as the Warriors used a concentrated effort to push the ball into the post.
“We worked on doing that all week at practice,” Aki said. “We had our chances to beat this team. We just fell back into our old ways in the third quarter, and that’s what gave them the lead.”
Riana Ralston took the floor for the first time this season and netted a game-high 14 points, but the Junior Varsity Red Raiders dropped its match to the Kapa‘a JV girls, 32-28.
Kaua‘i came back from a 15-8 halftime deficit and pulled to within three points twice in the second half before time ran out on the effort.
Kapa‘a rained three-balls, Lele Hanie, posting 11 points to lead the JV Warriors, and launched three from outside the three-point arc with Jodi Reis burning the twine from the top of the key with two treys in the second half.
