Kapolei clinches West's final tourney berth


KAPOLEI — Julia Velasco and Taelor Mesa combined for 26 points and Kapolei rolled over visiting Waianae, 52-21, Thursday night to clinch the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I West's final tournament berth.

It was the regular-season finale for both teams.

The Hurricanes (5-5) are the West's sixth seed for next week's 12-team OIA D1 tournament; they will face the East's third seed in the first round. The seventh-place Seariders (3-7) are done for the season. The top two teams from each division draw first-round byes.

Velasco led all scorers with 14 points, including three 3-pointers. Mesa finished with 12 points with two 3-pointers. Kapolei also had 13 points off its bench from four different reserves.

Paige Relph led the Seariders with 11 points. Only two other Seariders contributed to the team's scoring. Relph leads the OIA D1 in scoring with 161 points for a 17.9 points per game average, which also leads the league.

Waianae saw an early 6-3 lead disappear when Kapolei ended the first period with an 11-2 run.

Kapolei entered the game with a one-game lead on Waianae. A Seariders' victory would have made both teams 4-6, but Waianae would have clinched the tournament berth by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker.