HONOLULU —The Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders girls basketball team cruised into the semifinals at the Hawaiian Airlines Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Division II State Girls Basketball Championships after a 51-42 win over Kailua Wednesday. The win saw the
HONOLULU —The Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders girls basketball team cruised into the semifinals at the Hawaiian Airlines Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Division II State Girls Basketball Championships after a 51-42 win over Kailua Wednesday.
The win saw the No. 2 seeded Red Raiders go head to head with Honoka‘a High School of the Big Island Thursday evening. It proved to be a tight contest with Kaua‘i coming out on the short end of the stick, dropping its first game of the season 58-55.
Kaua‘i entered the game a perfect 9-0 on the season, but lost its biggest game of the year to fall out of contention for the state title.
Kaua‘i was led by Kristle Henry, who finished with a game high 21 points, which included a pair of three pointers. Casey Anacleto added 17 points of her own and Rianna Ralston pitched in with 12 points.
Honoka‘a went on to dominate the second quarter of an otherwise close contest, outscoring Kaua‘i 20-12, which led to the Red Raider demise. Honoka‘a was led by Shayla Ignacio with 16 points.
With the loss Kaua‘i now will play for third place. The Red Raiders will take on Hanalani of Mililani today at 11 a.m. Hanalani lost Thursday to No. 1 seeded KS Hawai‘i 73-53 and will meet the Red Raiders in a battle for third place at the Neil Blaisdell Center in Honolulu.
Honoka‘a will move on to the championship to take on KS Hawai‘i today at 5 p.m.
• Rick Killeen, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or sports@thegardenisland.com. Follow Rick on Twitter @RickKilleen