Caiyle Kaupu and the Konawaena girls basketball team earned a hard-fought victory at Hilo High in mid-December to open the regular season, and then they had every reason to take it easy.
But despite the Wildcats’ next eight wins coming by an average margin of 72.5 points, they didn’t. Not with Waiakea looming at the end.
“This past week at practice, the girls really dug deep,” co-head coach Dawnyelle Awa said Wednesday. “Our last day off was two Sundays ago, and even then the girls asked to get in the gym to shoot. They ran hard everyday, we played situations everyday, and we compete against each other.
“That’s how we’re able to play at our highest level each night.”
It’s also how you pull through when facing adversity when tested in a rare tight game.
Kaupu scored 21 points Tuesday night as the Wildcats outlasted the Warriors 54-50 in overtime in Kealakekua, grabbing the top seed in the BIIF Division I playoffs and a much easier path in next week’s playoffs with their 11th undefeated regular season in 12 years.
“Caiyle played awesome,” Awa said. “She really wanted to win. She was a fearless leader out there and demanded the ball every chance she had. This was also the best rebounding game she’s had all season.”
Kaliana Salazar-Harrell added 12 points for Konawaena (10-0), which had its 124-game BIIF winning streak snapped by the Warriors last season, then lost to Waiakea on its home court a few weeks later as its 1o-year BIIF reign came to an end.
Konawaena is working hard to ensure that 2019 was a just blip on the radar.
“The girls have improved tremendously from last year,” Awa said. “We were very young last year and our girls all were able to mature. Our chemistry has grown as well, but I guess you can say they had revenge in mind as well.”
Tayvia Cabatbat led Waiakea (8-1) with 10 points and Kelsie Imai and Destynee Williams each had nine. The Warriors, who also have dominated every BIIF foe but Hilo, hadn’t suffered a league loss since the 2018 BIIF final against Konawaena.
Awa said Grace Hing made a nice play defensively to force a turnover on Waiakea’s final possession of regulation, but Konawaena couldn’t come up with a quality shot, extending the game four minutes.
“In OT the first basket went to Waiakea on a defensive tip ball that fell in the basket,” Awa said. “After that Waiakea had a couple of mishandled balls that led to transition buckets, and our matchup zone worked. It slowed them down, and they weren’t able to get off many open looks.”
The teams could be on a collision course in next Wednesday’s title game at Afook Chinen-Civic Auditorium, but Hilo (7-2) will have something to say about that in Tuesday’s semifinals against Waiakea. The Warriors won the regular-season meeting 55-52 on Dec. 26 at the Vikings’ gym.
Konawaena, which own an automatic berth to the state tournament, will draw Keaau (6-3).
“The girls were ready and confident,” Awa said. “They knew it was going to be a long night also being senior night, which made the win so much better. Having the amount of fans we had was awesome. It was only a (regular season) game but a very important one, and (we knew) whoever lost had to face Hilo, which is another very good team. So we need to keep preparing for the playoffs and then states.”
Hawaii Prep 38, Honokaa 30: Maja Burdova scored 13 points and Mariah Borce had 10 in Waimea as Ka Makani clinched a playoff spot and ensured a rematch with their North Hawaii rival in the D-II semifinals.
HPA (3-5) outscored the Dragons (4-5) 10-2 in the second quarter to lead by 11 at halftime.
Ka’ena Tagabi led Honokaa with 13 points and Kristen Ragasa had 10.
HPA’s win eliminated Christian Liberty from playoff contention. The Canefire (2-8) finished their first season of varsity basketball with a 49-43 win at Kealakehe (2-7).
Kamehameha 55, Kohala 26: Nique Pacheco scored 22 points in Kapaau and the Warriors ended a four-game losing streak to clinch the outright Division II title and a state berth.
The teams will meet again in Tuesday’s semifinals.
Sarah Schubert scored 14 points as the Warriors (6-4) jumped to a 35-13 halftime lead.
Laila Caravalho led the Cowgirls (3-7) with 1o points.