
By Robert Balajadia
The St. Paul Warriors are headed back to the IIAAG Girls Basketball Finals after powering through the Guam High Panthers in the semifinals Tuesday evening at the UOG Calvo Field House. In the first game of the semifinals double-header, the Warriors deployed their tricky press defense as they swarmed the Panthers to punch their finals ticket winning 69-30.

Wendy’s Player of the Game: Kirsten Silva
The Academy Cougars defeated the GW Geckos 56-49 in the second game, setting up a second straight St. Paul vs. Academy IIAAG Girls Basketball Championship.
Guard Kirsten Silva was the leading lady for the Warriors netting 22 points as St. Paul stretched a 20-9 game in the 1st quarter to a 36-14 halftime score with the Panthers biggest threat in Taneea Henderson sitting out with early foul trouble. Henderson picked up three fouls forcing her to sit out the entire 2nd quarter where the Warriors outscored the Panthers 16-5.
“We made better shot selection and attacked the rim to try and create as much points from the free throw line as we can. We created a lot of opportunities to score today from the fast break and we noticed they weren’t really protecting the middle so our goal was to get to the rim,” said Silva on the approach.
Taneea still led the team in scoring with 13 points while the Warriors got 13 points from Jan Quintanilla.
Henderson is also the teams main ball handler, which presented problems for Guam High as they struggled to figure out the Warriors press with talented freshman Taneea in foul trouble.
“[Taneea] is an awesome player, love her, and I think she’s one of the top three guards in this league. So obviously when we’re facing that kind of talent, your game plan is to stop her. But we just played the way we play regardless of who’s on the court. We always want to speed up the tempo and push the pace on both sides,” said Warriors head coach Paul Pineda.
The Panthers got a short burst of Henderson’s offensive skills in the 3rd quarter going on a 7-0 personal run to get within 38-20. Guam High’s Aniah Cruz converted on three from the wing to cut the lead 40-26 with 2:30 left to play in the 3rd, but another foul from Henderson on a charge a moment later forced head coach Joe Taitano to sit her after picking up her fourth foul.
Silva would break free scoring six points, all off turnovers, as St. Paul squashed the possible Panther comeback to end the quarter on a 9-0 run for a 49-26 lead.
The Warriors emptied their benches in the 4th as plenty of crowd favorites got into the scoring action.
St. Paul has already put their semifinals win behind them as they have their sights set on bringing home their second straight IIAAG title. The Warriors went undefeated in the regular season winning each game by double digits, but Pineda and the coaching staff aren’t about to let the team get complacent now.

The Warriors celebrate as their team catches fire in the second half. (photo by Michael Ebio)
“We never look at the score and we tell the girls that ‘the enemy of success is success’. So our challenge as coaches this week is to still have these girls motivated and make sure that they aren’t taking it easy just because they’ve won every game so far. As we preach that, I’m sure our girls will come ready Friday,” said Pineda.
Silva was on the Cougars last year where she suffered a heartbreaking loss to some of her now teammates. Her Warriors teammates love to bring up that fact, so winning one this year with her new team has made her the most title-hungry of them all.
“Everyone jokes about it; the coaches, my teammates and the parents,” laughed Silva on St. Paul bringing up last years title game. “I really want to win one. This is a new team and we play very different, but my mindset on the game is still the same.”
The Championship game is set to go down on Friday at 7 pm following the consolation game between the Panthers and Geckos.
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GPS Sports Calendar
February 2023
- SU
- MO
- TU
- WE
- TH
- FR
- SA
Events for January
1st
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
2nd
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
Events for February
3rd
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
TRITONS BASEBALL INVITATIONAL PLAYOFFS
Events for February
4th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Events for February
6th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
7th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
8th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
9th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
Events for February
10th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
TRITONS BASEBALL INVITATIONAL FINALS
Events for February
11th
Events for February
13th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
14th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
15th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
Events for February
16th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
Events for February
17th
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
Events for February
18th
World Athletics Cross Country Championships
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
Events for February
19th
SPRINT TRIATHLON, PACIFIC GAMES QUALIFIER
MONSTER ENERGY MOTOCROSS ROUND 2
Events for February
20th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
21st
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
22nd
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
23rd
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
Events for February
24th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL QUARTERFINALS
Events for February
24th
Events for February
25th
Events for February
27th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER SEMIFINALS
Events for February
28th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL FINALS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE SEMIFINALS
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS

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