Aiko Grande’s three-balls led Kalaheo to a 39-28 win over the Kilauea Hui and Jessilyn Aki had the hot hand for the Kaua‘i Ballers in their 56-44 win over the KHS Alumni, Friday at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center. The wins
Aiko Grande’s three-balls led Kalaheo to a 39-28 win over the Kilauea Hui and Jessilyn Aki had the hot hand for the Kaua‘i Ballers in their 56-44 win over the KHS Alumni, Friday at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
The wins in the final season games of the Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association Women’s 18 and Over summer league sets up the playoffs for tonight.
Kalaheo, coming from an 16-11 halftime deficit, finished the season as the No. 2 seed and will play the Kaua‘i Ballers, getting the No. 3 seed starting at 6 p.m.
That game will be followed by top-seeded .U..NCH. playing the league’s No. 4 seed, the Kamikaze, starting at 7 p.m.
Grande finished with six points, all coming on critical treys, along with Cheyenne Duarte netting one three-ball, and sisters Erin and Mollie Connelly.
Grady, topping the Kalaheo scoring with seven points, got one three ball as the Kalaheo orangeshirts finished with 12 field goals, as did the Hui. The difference came from behind the arc, where Kalaheo netted four treys to the Hui’s single long ball, which came off the hand of Layna Christian.
Kapua Chandler finished with a game-high dozen points to lead the Hui effort, followed by Christian’s eight points.
Kalaheo came back to outscore the Hui 17-2 in the third period and never looked back.
In the second game, Aki, coming off a successful off-island basketball training trip, netted a game-high 22 points to lead the Kaua‘i Ballers, followed by Leinaala McCabe adding 11 points.
Belinda Butac fired off three treys for the KHS Alumni en route to her game-total 15 points. Denise Karrati added 10 points in the effort, followed by Cissy Dennis getting seven points, including one of the Alumni’s six three-balls.
The Kaua‘i Ballers dominated, finishing with 20 field goals to the Alumni’s 11 and were 7-for-14 at the charity stripe compared with the Alumni’s 2-for-4 showing. The Alumni’s bright spot came from long-range where it netted six treys to the Ballers’ three, McCabe firing off two and Ma’ilika Napoleon adding one.
Winners of tonight’s matchups advance to the finals next Friday at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
