Penny for Daly-Taylor's thoughts but she saw the culminating chest-banging, arms-up-in-the-air altercation and benched a seething Haku although he kept the verbal barrage going with Ekenasio.
Was it the right decision?
Should she have let Haku sort out their differences in the long run because Braswell didn't bench Ekenasio until three minutes were left that quarter and his troops were 33-31 up?
Even from the bench, Ekenasio sledged youngster Isaia Jones-Mitchell.
It is, afterall, gamesmanship and a weapon if one is effective when the men are separated from the boys.
"What are you doing here, man?" he asked rookie Jones-Mitchell in the final quarter.
What was obvious was the Jarrod Kenny and Everard Bartlett co-skippered hosts had thrown down the gauntlet to their nemesis in their house.
That Ekenasio entry point was the turning point of the game as the sides shared the quarter, 18-all, as the Hawks went into the locker room 44-42 down.
For the record, Ekenasio and Haku hugged each other during the customary final-buzzer pleasantries as if to acknowledge what happens at the height of battle stays on court.
It's not often you see the Wellingtonians off their bench, providing Braswell and assistant coach Zico Cornell a background chorus to question referees' decisions in almost every facet and break of play when the chips are down.
The sides returned in the third spell and traded three-point fire but the Wellingtonians walked out of the gunsmoke 74-64 (30-22) ahead with Shea Ili bolstering their 41.7 per cent halftime statistics against the Hawks' 22.2.
Kenny and his men came back in patches in the final quarter but never enough to haul back the Saints' lead, which had stretched to 95-76 (19) at one stage in the final quarter.
Wellington won that final spell 28-27 but it pays to know the Hawks haven't beaten the Saints in Napier since 2010.
Consequently the Hawks didn't disgrace themselves in any way.
In fact, they were gallant and made huge strides towards winning back fans.
The PG Arena was only half full but the vociferous support brought back memories of the halycon days of full houses.
Bay amateur basketball stalwart Paul Trass stuck his neck out: "The Hawks are a Final Four team now."
All the talk was about tying down Corey Webster but the scoring machine racked up 33 points, four rebounds and three assists.
When he was not having a look at the rim, Shea Ili, Wesley Tai, 19 points each, and Jordan Ngatai (14) kept things ticking over.
Josh Duinker and Leon Henry kept the boards on check, claiming five rebounds each.
Kenny, who top scored for the hosts with 22 points and registered a double-double with 15 assists, said the Hawks went in confident tonight after a video-footage session where they analysed their season-game flaws before getting down to some serious scrimmages in the week.
"We just couldn't get there in the end but I thought we improved from last week. But we have a fair way to go," said the two-time ANBL title-winning point guard.
Kenny said they started great, throwing the first punches, but Wellington adapted in injecting Ekenasio to unsettle them.
"I think we were a little too slow to adjust," he said, backing Daly-Taylor's decision because Haku was going to get into foul trouble.
Forward Darryl Jones had pulled out after two minutes due to injury and US import Lamar Roberson, who had struggled to adapt to the NBL demands, had jetted back home this week.
South Africa-born Grant Fiorentinos was the only import player although US centre Amir Williams is expected to arrive on Monday.
"Damien is there to ruffle feathers and, sometimes, it works to their advantage but we can't let them come in to do that to us."
Kenny said Roberson was having a tough time adjusting.
"His partner in the States is pregnant and expecting so it made his decision easy in the end. I didn't really get the chance to talk to him but I wish him all the best."
He said Fiorentinos, initially signed up for four matches until Williams arrived, was doing well in bringing a lot of energy to the team but he still needed to accomplish a couple of things to do justice to his portfolio.
Kenny thanked the arena faithful for turning up to boost their campaign.
Fiji-born Joshua Fox scored 16 points, Bartlett and Tony Tolovae 14 each, while Haku added 10 points and six rebounds to the cause.
