Mililani's Jamie Yuki knocked down two key free throws to help ice the win over Leilehua. CJ Caraang | SL

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Thu, Jan 8, 2015 @ Leilehua

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Mililani

43

Leilehua

41

Final	1	2	3	4
Mililani (11-2, 12-5)	7	15	11	10	43
Leilehua (11-3, 15-9)	8	12	8	13	41

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

T. Abbott 17 pts  2/3 FTs

J. Yuki 15 pts  2 3pm  3/4 FTs

T. Abbott 5 tot

S. Appleby 8 tot

K. Roy 1 ast

S. Bolibol 1 ast

WAHIAWA — All those extra free throws in practice paid off for Jamie Yuki Thursday night.

Yuki scored a team-high 15 points to carry Mililani to a 43-41 win over host Leilehua before a crowd of about 150 fans in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Western Division game at Paul T. Kobayashi Gymnasium.

The Trojans also got 11 points from Talia Brandner off the bench and six points and eight rebounds from Shantel Appleby to run their record to 6-0 in league play.

"I'll admit it, I was pretty nervous," said Yuki, a senior guard. "Leilehua is probably one of our top competitors in the West, so I was a little gun shy at first, but eventually I got the jitters out."

It didn't take Yuki long to work out those jitters. She drained a pair of first-half 3-pointers en route to 10 points before halftime.

"Jamie's really been stepping up for us," Trojans' coach Pat Basilio said. "She's still not as aggressive offensively as we're trying to get her to be — I think she's so passive — but I think she's coming along and I think it's actually helping the team chemistry knowing that anybody can step up at any given moment."

Yuki scored just five points after halftime, but four came in the final quarter, including a pair of pivotal free throws that extended Mililani's lead to 42-39 with 31 seconds left.

Leilehua cut the deficit to a single point after Tywanna Abbott's three-point play with 1:03 to play capped a 7-2 Mules' run.

However, Yuki drew the foul against Leilehua and went to the line to shoot a 1-and-1. Her first free throw touched nothing but the bottom of the net and the second rattled in.

"I was nervous," Yuki said. "They fouled me and I was like 'Oh!,' but I relaxed. All we do in practice is shoot free throws for water breaks."

The Mules had a chance to tie it on their ensuing possession, but couldn't find an open 3-point shooter and instead settled for a Tywanna Abbott layup that cut the Trojans' lead to 42-41 with just four seconds to play.

Brandner drew a foul on Leilehua's Keahi Lele-Roy — her fifth of the game — after receiving the inbounds pass and made the front end of another 1-and-1 to again make it a two-point Mililani lead.

The Mules gathered the rebound off Brandner's second free throw, but were unable to get a shot off before the final buzzer rang.

"We had a chance at the end," Leilehua coach Elroy Dumlao said. "We were looking for a 3, but we couldn't so our player just went to the rack and took that two and we took a quick foul — trying to run a free-throw fast break — but they hit the free throw so that was the game. Free throws won it for them."

Mililani, which led 22-20 at halftime, was just 8 of 16 from the free-throw line for the game, but made enough of them down the stretch.

"That was probably the biggest thing for us," Basilio said of the free throws. "We practice that day-in and day-out and now they see where hard work gets you sometimes."

Abbott finished with a game-high 17 points to go with five rebounds and three steals. Jazmina Lafitaga  had nine points and Jerri Maluyo eight for the Mules, who dropped to 4-2 with the loss.

The Trojans next play Saturday, when they host Aiea, while the Mules have a bye and won't play again until a road game at Kapolei Wednesday.