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Girls' Basketball: Lady Tigers endure Kahuku onslaught, promise to rebound
Posted at 11:52 PM
Eighth-ranked McKinley took one on the chin Saturday night, but the Lady Tigers are getting over a lopsided loss to Kahuku. Pronto. Please kokua by visiting our affiliate partners. Mahalo!
By Paul Honda HONOLULU—So where do the Lady Tigers of McKinley go from here? That may be a question the suddenly cold hoopsters may be asking. And if they aren’t asking, certainly, their fans are. Off the heels of a three-game win streak, the Lady Tigers took a step back with a 70-50 loss to Kahuku Saturday night. (See the game story in Sunday’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin.) It was a satisfying win for the visiting Red Raiders, who dominated the boards, 49-25—including 29-9 in the second half—and shut down McKinley’s 3-point shooting in the second half. McKinley, ranked No. 8 in the HondaReport.com Girls’ Basketball Top Ten, dropped to 3-2 in the O’ahu Interscholastic Association East Division (11-7 overall). “We’re fine,” McKinley head coach Jesse Victorino said. “They’re not crying like they did against Kalaheo.”
The Lady Tigers lost at Kalaheo two weeks ago to open the regular season. Saturday’s loss was due in part to simple execution, or rather, lack of it, against the much taller Red Raiders. Chelsie Sato and Linda Fowler, McKinley’s top two post defenders, are both just 5-foot-7. “They know they’re quick, but we still gotta put a body on them,” Victorino said. “Chelsie did a heck of a job on Latoya (Wily), but our guards didn’t help out.” Wily finished with a powerful performance, netting 26 points and 20 rebounds. Kahuku, ranked No. 2 in the Top Ten, improved to 5-0 in league play (16-1 overall). “We had a week of good practice,” head coach Wendy Anae said of her team’s fairly long layoff. “But it’s not the same as game competition.” McKinley, which made 7-of-20 3-point attempts in the first half, gave Anae and her staff plenty to be concerned with. “They’d been playing well. They were hitting 14 3s a game on average,” Anae said. The Red Raider defense, which took control of the glass, also clamped down on the 3-point line. McKinley made just 2-of-20 attempts from the arc in the second half. Wily, playing in her cherished gray-and-black canvas Chuck Taylors, ran the floor well and played all but the final few minutes. “We had to adjust to their offense. They were getting hot in the first half,” Wily said. “They’re a great team. They don’t have just one shooter.” Please kokua by visiting our affiliate partners. Mahalo!
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