Mililani's Kayla Torres heads down court against Leilehua. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Leilehua's Tywanna Abbott goes after a rebound against Mililani. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Mililani's Sarah Liva goes up for a shot over Leilehua's Jeri Maluyo. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Thu, Dec 26, 2013 @ Mililani

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Leilehua

26

Mililani

54

Final	1	2	3	4
Leilehua (11-2, 14-6)	7	8	3	8	26
Mililani (12-1, 23-4)	10	9	15	20	54

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

S. Liva 14 pts  2/6 FTs

J. Maluyo 9 pts  5/9 FTs

S. Liva 15 tot

J. Maluyo 5 tot

M. Limper 6 ast

J. Maluyo 6 ast

MILILANI – A tight first half turned into a runaway after the break.

Mililani, ranked No. 6 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Girls Basketball Power Rankings, used a 35-11 second half advantage to leap pass Leilehua, 54-26. The Trojans improve their record to 5-0 in Oahu Interscholastic Association Western Division league play while the Mules drop to 4-1. This game was a rematch of the 2013 OIA title game.

“We just told them that they got to turn up their intensity,” Mililani coach Patrick Basilio said on his team’s big second half. “First half was like they were sleep walking through the first 16 minutes. They just wasn’t playing their style of basketball. Second half they buckled down and I think it showed.”

Mililani’s Sarah Liva was a force in the paint for the home team, finishing with a double double of 14 points and 15 rebounds. She converted 60 percent of her shot attempts and also swatted five shots and dished two assists.

“Nothing else you can say. Every time we play, night in, night out, it’s like beast-mode for her. (She’s) a luxury to have,” Basilio said on Liva.

The Trojans were very strong in their ball movement, assisting on 19 of their 22 made field goals. Most of the ball movement involved a high to low post passing game between their bigs.

“The low post is one of our strengths this year, so we’ve really been pressing that high-low game that we have,” explained Basilio. “They wasn’t really finding it in the first half, but once they settled down they started seeing the passing lanes a little better.”

Mililani jumped out to an early 10-3 first quarter lead thanks to two Mikaela Limper triples, but Leilehua scored the next four points to cut the lead to three at the end of the opening period. The close game continued in the second quarter, with Mililani nursing a 19-15 lead at halftime.

That single digit differential quickly evaporated when Mililani went on a 10-0 run to open up the second half. Liva jumpstarted the run with two quick baskets and Limper capped it with a fast break layup off the steal from Summer Bolibol. Mililani also held Leilehua without a basket in the quarter, limiting the Mules to just three third quarter points, all on free throws.

The fourth quarter was almost a duplicate of the third, with Mililani going on another 10-0 run to open the period. Leilehua would have to hold out till the 4:12 mark of the fourth quarter before they made their first field goal of the second half. The Mules had a rough day shooting from the field, converting on 20 percent of their attempts. 

“We were talking about it at halftime,” Basilio said on the concerted effort on defense. “We just told them you got to show pride in your defense, especially on-ball defense. We was getting beat on the bounce so much on the dribble drive. (Once) our girls buckled down, I think the help side started finding the ball a little bit better, trying to close all the driving lines. As a whole team we just flowed so much better in our man defense.”

Limper was the complimentary perimeter scorer to the Trojans’ post game, notching 12 points while knocking down three treys and dishing six assists. Zyriana Davies added 11 off the bench to round out the double-digit scorers for Mililani.

Jerri Maluyo was the high scorer for the Mules, finishing with nine points. Maluyo also registered six steals, five rebounds and two assists.