LIHU‘E — The Kapa‘a Lady Warriors used an 18-0 run in the third and fourth quarters on their way to a 66-42 victory over the Kaua‘i Red Raiders in Tuesday night’s season opener at the Kaua‘i High School Gym. With
LIHU‘E — The Kapa‘a Lady Warriors used an 18-0 run in the third and fourth quarters on their way to a 66-42 victory over the Kaua‘i Red Raiders in Tuesday night’s season opener at the Kaua‘i High School Gym.
With a 37-35 lead at the 5:15 mark of the third quarter, Kapa‘a used defensive pressure and open-court aggression to build to a 55-35 advantage just as the fourth quarter got underway.
The Lady Warriors used an incredibly balanced scoring attack, as none of their players reached double digits in points.
Ash-lyn Lee and Ala McCabe each had nine, while Kira Nakamura and Justine Holt each had eight points.
Kaua‘i’s Kelsey Cadiente led all scorers with 16 points, while Kristle Henry had 10.
The Raiders had the early edge and were the more aggressive team, getting many of their early points from the free-throw line. They took a 16-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
They continued to get the majority of the whistles throughout the second quarter, with Kapa‘a being called for 15 fourls in the first half, to Kaua‘i’s five. But Kapa‘a was able to overcome the freebies by starting to shoot a higher percentage from the floor.
The Warriors opened the second with a 9-0 run to take a three-point edge, with the two teams playing mostly evenly after that. Nakamura hit a runner with five seconds left in the quarter and Kapa‘a had a 31-27 lead at the halftime buzzer.
The teams traded baskets and the Raiders cut the lead to two early in the third, before the Warriors went on the decisive 18-0 run that put the game out of reach.
The night’s early action was a thriller as the Kaua‘i JV girls won a 48-44 game over Kapa‘a, behind 29 points from Casey Anacleto.
The two teams battled back and forth throughout the game, with neither squad grabbing a big enough lead to pull away. The game was tied with under a minute to play, when Anacleto scored once again to give the Raiders the lead.
She then added the finishing touch in the final seconds, scoring to put the game out of reach.
Kapa‘a’s Krystal Christian scored 26 to lead the Warriors, but it was the free-throw line that was their undoing. They were just 6 for 27 from the charity stripe on the night.
Kaua‘i is back in action Saturday, when the girls head to Waimea to take on the Lady Menehune. JV will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity.
