WAIMEA – Exactly 30 days ago Waimea’s girls basketball team suffered a trouncing at the hands of Kaua’i – a 45-28 loss in its own gym. Waiting a month to rebound is no easy task. But that’s what the Menehunes
WAIMEA – Exactly 30 days ago Waimea’s girls basketball team suffered a trouncing at the hands of Kaua’i – a 45-28 loss in its own gym.
Waiting a month to rebound is no easy task. But that’s what the Menehunes did, scrapping by Kapa’a 36-32 Thursday night in the Kaua’i Interscholastic Federation’s first post-teachers’ strike contest.
“We’ve been waiting to get back out here and compete,” Waimea coach Elton Montemayer said. “Tonight we really proved to ourselves that we’re a good team.”
Junior Erin Castillo played a sizeable role in the realization. The center scored 15 points on the evening, including the Menehunes’ final four.
After trailing by five midway through the fourth quarter, Kapa’a pulled to within 32-31 on a Waiala Quisano steal and layup with under 90 seconds remaining.
“Kapa’a’s a great team,” Montemayer said. “We couldn’t put them away because we were rusty and they came after us.”
After Quisano’s bucket, the Warriors (0-3 KIF) went after Castillo, fouling her with one minute to go. She calmly sank both free throws to open up a three-point lead.
Kapa’a’s Kanoe Arinaga missed a 3-point attempt, and Castillo banked in a layup moments later to seal the game.
“We knew what they were going to do,” Kapa’a coach Michael Ban said. “But we couldn’t stop it. They wanted it more than we did.”
Before Castillo’s display of calm, the Warriors had chances to pull ahead. But they couldn’t find the range on a series of 3-pointers.
“We need to get into it mentally,” Ban said. “But we’re going to keep attacking and playing hard.
“You have to give Waimea credit though.”
The Menehunes improved to 2-1 in the KIF.
Kapa’a-32
Player Points
Waiala Quisano 4
Sharlene Carillo 0
Danielle Hill 3
Kanoe Arinaga 10
Ihilani Yama 2
Tania Tasic 0
Ashley Farias 11
N. Kunioka-Volz 0
Stephanie Cuyo 0
Total 32
Waimea-36
Player Points
Taryn Dizon 0
Charise Ponce 0
Ashley Hori 9
Melissa Bartlett 0
Virginia Aguilar 5
Kellie Montemayor 0
Melody Manuel 1
Robyn Manuel 6
Erin Castillo 15
Total 36
Score by quarters
K 6 8 7 11 – 32
W 4 12 9 11 – 36
Sports editor Jason Gallic at 245-3681 or mailto:kauaisports@pulitzer.net
