The Surfriders' junior guard and Red Raiders' senior center posted prolific offensive performances for their respective teams over the weekend. ScoringLive photo illustration

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Male Athlete of the Week: Everett Torres-Kahapea, Kailua basketball
Everett Torres-Kahapea did not disappoint in his first two varsity seasons for the Kailua boys basketball team. Now, the 5-foot-10 guard is being asked to take on a larger role for the Seariders in his junior season.

So far, so good.

Torres-Kahapea scored a game-high 32 points to lead Kailua to a 77-68 win over visiting Aiea in his team's preseason opener last Tuesday.

Kailua coach Wally Marciel said Torres-Kahapea scored his points in a variety of ways, but mostly at the free-throw line.

"He scored from the field, got some lay-ups, but he got fouled a lot and went to the free-throw line and scored probably half of his points from the line," Marciel said.

In fact, it was exactly half of his points.

Torres-Kahapea scored 16 of 25 from the charity stripe and also drained a pair of 3-pointers in the win.

"The outside shooting is pretty consistent with his 3s, but he got a lot of penetration and got to the line often," Marciel said.

Torres-Kahapea has been a proven asset at the free-throw line, where he shot 87.5 percent as a freshman in 2015, and 82.4 percent as a sophomore last year.

"That's absolutely huge because if people are gonna foul him and put him on the line, his percentage is very high and he's going to be one of the guys that if it comes to the end of the game and it's crunch time, he will have the ball in his hands," Marciel said.

Until fellow guard Aaron Mejia returns from an injury, Torres-Kahapea is the lone returning starter for the Surfriders (2-0).

"We have a bunch of juniors, a bunch of sophomores and probably four or five seniors, so we're a very young team, but with Everett's leadership and guidance I think we'll be surprising some people this year," Marciel said.

Torres-Kahapea missed part of his freshman season due to an injury, but has been a steady presence in the starting lineup since then.

"He's taking more control now, which is all we wanted from him coming into the year," Marciel said. "He's a big-time leader this year. He's taken that role as one of our captains and his leadership has been good. He's getting a lot of guys involved, which kind of frees him up a little bit. Being a junior and being on the team since his freshman year, we will look for him to lead us from here on our through the rest of the year."

Torres-Kahapea has been filling Mejia's role of point guard, but Marciel said the hope is to slide him over to the shooting guard position upon Mejia's return.

"He's kind of able to do it all now," Marciel said. "He was known for shooting the 3, (but) he knew he had to get stronger and in the offseason he did work in the weight room and got stronger. He knew that was part of improving his overall game. He's become an overall guy now versus just being that outside shooter and his court sense is unbelievable. He has great vision to penetrate and kick out, and we need somebody like that."

Torres-Kahapea was one of three Kailua players to earn Honorable Mention All-Hawaii distinction last year. The other two — Zachary Marrotte and Christian Mejia — graduated, leaving Torres-Kahapea to fill the void.

"I think him having all the experience from his freshman and sophomore year gives him the edge," Marciel said. "The last two years we made it to the state tournament and I think playing at that high level has helped him take on the lead role this year. He wants it really bad and he's showing us at practice and also in the two games that we've played so far that he wants it."

Kailua will host the Sixth Annual Surfriders Holiday Classic this weekend. Torres-Kahapea and the Surfriders will take on Waianae in a quarterfinal matchup at 8 p.m. Thursday.

The rest of the eight-team field is made up for Maui, Iolani, Campbell, Kamehameha, Waipahu and Saint Francis.

Female Athlete of the Week: Taegan Keep, Kauai basketball
For Taegan Keep, the 2017 basketball season started off how the last one ended: with an impressive showing on Oahu.

The 6-foot-3 senior center averaged 21 points in three games last week to help the Kauai girls basketball team go 2-1 in the Saint Francis Thanksgiving Tournament over the weekend.

Keep, the reigning Kauai Interscholastic Federation Player of the Year, scored 22 points in a 52-41 win over Iolani II Friday. She followed that up with 28 points in Saturday's 48-39 win over Punahou II and closed out the tournament with a 13-point effort in a 52-39 loss to the host Saints later in the day.

"It was pretty impressive," Red Raiders coach James Dingus said. "We talk about how she needs to be that good and the rest of the teams really tries to get her the ball, and that's kind of what happens. She's playing like a fourth-year varsity player: experienced, composed and just impressive."

Dingus added that Keep was busy on the glass, as usual, and sank a memorable long-distance shot against the Buffanblu.

"Most of her points were either off of post moves, but quite a few of her points were off offensive rebounds as well," Dingus said. "Her free throws are kind of streaky, but then she got the highlight of her career so far when she got the ball at the very end of the second quarter (against Punahou), took about three, four dribbles and hit a 25-footer for a 3. She's been wanting a 3 for years. I think it really changed the momentum in that game, too."

For the most part, however, Keep does her work in the paint.

"She's an old-school center: back to the basket on offense, she can use her right hand or her left hand, and her footwork has improved every year," Dingus said. "She's doing a little more offensively this year. The last several years she made a big different on defensively challenging shots, getting rebounds and just kind of controlling the paint."

Keep, a starter in all four of her varsity seasons, is one of six seniors on the roster of 12 for the Red Raiders (2-1). She helped the program capture its first KIF crown in five years last season, which culminated with a sixth-place finish at the D2 state tournament.

"That was a big step for the program and for her to be able to have some team success and put the pieces together and play as a group," Dingus said. "Hopefully we can use that to build into this year to kind of keep it rolling."

In four state tournament games last February, Keep averaged 11.8 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 blocks. She registered three double-doubles over a four-day span en route to Second Team All-Hawaii D2 honors.

"She's putting it together a little bit more consistently on both sides of the floor, which is what you hope your senior leaders would do, and she's doing that," Dingus said.

Keep also participates in track and field in the spring season and captured the girls' discus crown at last year's state championship meet.

"She's involved with robotics and all kinds of different clubs in school," Dingus said. "She's a really well-rounded young lady."

Keep hopes to attend Brigham Young and study engineering.

The Red Raiders open defense of their KIF title against Kapaa on Dec. 13.

BOYS BASKETBALL
Elijah Busenbark, Christian Academy — Scored 18 points in a win over Waialua

Leif Fautanu, University Lab — Scored 18 points in a loss to Kapolei

Kolin Galdiano, Damien — Scored 18 points in a loss to Campbell

Cole Galicinao, Hawaii Baptist — Scored 21 points in a win over Kaiser

Cameron Henry, Mililani — Scored 25 points in a loss to Kaimuki

Andrew Kearney, Kalaheo — Scored 17 points with three rebounds, four assists and three steals in a win over Punahou II, scored 17 points with 13 rebounds, three steals and an assist, and scored 12 points with 12 rebounds, two steals and an assist in a loss to Maui

Jaymin Khan-Smith, Kaiser — Scored 18 points in a win over Waimea

Zoar Nedd, Kapolei — Scored 20 points in a win over University Lab

Kameron Ng, Saint Francis — Scored 20 points in a win over Kaimuki

DJ Pabre, Waimea — Scored 19 points in a loss to Kaiser

Ryan Pardini, Kalaheo — Scored 19 points with two rebounds, two assists and two steals in a win over Punahou II

Cyrus Singelman, Kaiser — Scored 22 points in a win over Waipahu

Fred Taulung, Kaimuki — Scored 20 points in a win over Mililani

Mitchell Williams, Campbell — Scored 23 points in a win over Damien

GIRLS BASKETBALL
Kaelyn Espinda, Kaimuki — Scored 23 points in a win over Molokai and scored 17 points in a win over Leilehua

Joy Luna, Christian Academy — Scored 26 points in a win over Waialua

Dezlyn Naval, McKinley — Scored 16 points with three rebounds in a win over Aiea

Savannah Neves, Saint Francis — Scored 21 points in a win over Molokai and scored 17 points in a win over Moanalua

Kalina Obrey, Kamehameha — Scored 20 points in a win over Radford

Delylah Sanerivi, Moanalua — Scored 17 points in a win over Iolani II and scored 19 points in a loss to Saint Francis

Nani Tantos, Saint Francis — Scored 17 points in a win over Moanalua

Ally Wada, Hawaii Baptist — Scored 28 points in a win over Sacred Hearts