Leilehua's Jeri Maluyo scored a game-high 27 points in a win over Moanalua in the OIA Division I playoffs. Brien Ing | SL

Purchase image 1 of 1

Fri, Jan 30, 2015 @ Leilehua

---

Moanalua

41

Leilehua

72

Final	1	2	3	4
Moanalua (7-5, 7-5)	8	9	11	13	41
Leilehua (11-3, 15-9)	27	13	18	14	72

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. Maluyo 27 pts  1 3pm  2/4 FTs

S. Canencia 12 pts  6/8 FTs

T. Abbott 8 tot

S. Ho 7 tot

J. Lafitaga 1 ast

WAHIAWA — This was over almost as soon as it started.

Jerri Maluyo and Tywanna Abbott combined for 47 points to lead Leilehua to a 72-41 rout of visiting Moanalua in the opening round of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Girls Basketball Tournament Friday night.

A crowd of about 200 fans at Paul T. Kobayashi Gymnasium saw the West fourth-seeded Mules lead wire-to-wire to improve to 9-2 and advance into Saturday's quarterfinal round. They will visit East champion Roosevelt 6 p.m. with a spot in the state tournament on the line.

With the win, Leilehua ran its winning streak to five games and has now won 10 of its last 11.

"We worked our butts off for this. We practiced for this," said Maluyo, who had 12 points by the end of the first quarter and also finished with seven rebounds, four steals, one assist and a block.

The Mules used a suffocating half-court trap defense to jump out to a 15-0 lead by the 3:05 mark in the first quarter. Na Menehune turned it over on nine of their first 12 possessions to start the game and had 24 in the first half alone.

"We though we could create some turnovers early and jump on them really quickly and maybe get some easy baskets on that (half-court trap), so it kind of worked out for us," Leilehua coach Elroy Dumlao said. "It was the first time we kind of used it."

Maluyo got free for a number of easy transition layups, including a three-point play late in the first quarter that extended Leilehua's lead to 25-8. It was part of a second 15-0 run that was capped by Jazmina Lafitaga's bucket off a Maluyo assist that made the score 35-8 midway through the second quarter.

"We just wanted to kill them in the first so we don't have to do much at the end," Maluyo said.

The Mules held a 40-17 lead at halftime and didn't let up the rest of the way. They stretched their lead to 58-28 after three quarters and emptied the bench in the fourth.

Abbott did most of her damage in the second and third quarters and finished with a game-high eight rebounds and two steals.

"We came together as a team," Abbott said. "We had a little bit of bumps in the road, but we worked through it, so that's what made us get good in this game and made us stronger."

There was some extra motivation for Keahi-Iele Roy and Lafitaga, both of whom played at Moanalua before transferring to Leilehua after last season.

"They had a chip on their shoulder," Dumlao said of Roy and Lafitaga, who finished with six and nine points, respectively. "They wanted to go out there and play hard against their ex-teammates."

During the fourth quarter — with the game well in hand — Maluyo left the game in some discomfort, but returned a few minutes later and finished the game. She drew a loud ovation from the crowd with a block in transition to deny a Moanalua layup.

That was for (Roy and Lafitaga), because to me they didn't do their part," Maluyo said. "They didn't score as much as they wanted to, but I just wanted to hype everyone up at the end and end the game good."

Maluyo said it was her decision to re-enter the game, which Dumlao was in full support of.

"She's the leader. We kind of let her go," Dumlao said. "If she feels all right, or if she needs a rest, we'll let her go that way. She's done a lot for this program, so we're going to trust her on those kinds of decisions."

Moanalua, the East fifth seed, saw its season end at 7-5.

Sydnie Canencia led Na Menehune with 12 points.