LIHU‘E — Red Raider head coach Sandi Nadatani-Mendez swears she didn’t watch the defensive battle between LSU and Alabama during Monday’s college football championship game.
Maybe that’s why the Red Raiders were able to pull out of their second quarter scoring funk.
Despite the Kaua‘i offense coming to a halt in the second quarter, the Red Raiders, led by Kristle Henry’s 18 points, put together three strong quarters to blow past the Waimea Menehune, 46-28, Tuesday night at Kaua‘i High School.
The Red Raiders came out of the first quarter flying with at 17-10 lead, but entering the second everything came to a halt. That is, offensively.
Unlike the Monday football game, the defense played by Waimea and Kaua‘i got the crowd going.
The Menehune faithful were riled up by two massive blocks by Mariyah Oliver. Her second came when Kaua‘i’s Henry tried a dazzling lay-up, only for Oliver to send the attempt flying.
The Red Raiders returned the favor in the form of Kawehi Louis-Diamond. Not to be outmatched by her West side counterpart, Louis-Diamond swatted a Kaelyn Aquino-Kamakele lay-up attempt. The ball sailed five rows into the stands and the crowd roared.
Louis-Diamond’s block kept the Menehune off the scoreboard, but Nadatani-Mendez said big blocks can be a double-edged sword. The Kaua‘i coach said she doesn’t want Louis-Diamond to abandon her defensive fundamentals in exchange for the big crowd pleasing swats.
“It gets her going and it gets the crowd going,” Nadatani-Mendez said, “but it’s not what I want.”
The defensive battle of attrition ended with the Menehune out-scoring the Red Raiders 5-3 in the second quarter, giving Kaua‘i a five-point edge at the half.
The Menehune coaching staff was happy with the team’s ability to limit the Red Raiders in the quarter. The Menehune cranked up the offense as well with perfect three-point shooting from Aquino-Kamakele. The Menehune sophomore hit a three-pointer at the first quarter buzzer and chipped in another in the second quarter.
“She’s done that all year for us,” Waimea head coach Elton Montemayor said. “Her two big threes got us within range.”
Closing in on the Raiders, the Menehune defense stepped up.
“We made a conscious effort to keep the pressure on defense,” Waimea head coach Elton Montemayor. “We did that and kept it close through the half.”
But in the second half, the Red Raiders returned to playing like the team that has breezed through the first half of the KIF season.
In addition to Henry’s 18 points, the Raiders filled the cup with 14 points from Casey Anacleto and another 9 from Bristy Agu.
Henry and Agu even showed a new look to the Raider offense in the fourth quarter, with Agu controlling the point with Henry working the paint. The first play with this new formation resulted in a three-point “and-1” play from Henry in the post off a pass from Agu.
“We know a lot of teams put someone on Kristle, so that just something we’ve been working on in practice.”
For the Menehune, Paige Connelly led the team with eight points. Cheyenne Duarte added seven for Waimea while Aquino-Kamakele finished with six.
In JV action, the Waimea wahine beat the Red Raiders 30-11.
• Tyson Alger, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or by emailing talger@ thegardenisland.com. Follow him on twitter.com/tysonalger.
