Starr Rivera led the Rough Riders to victory with 22 points against home team Kailua Tuesday night. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Roosevelt's Keala Quinlan puts up a shot in paint against Kailua. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Tue, Jan 20, 2015 @ Kailua

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Roosevelt

75

Kailua

52

Final	1	2	3	4
Roosevelt (14-0, 20-4)	19	15	22	19	75
Kailua (11-4, 14-8)	17	13	12	10	52

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

P. Vaimaona 19 pts  7/10 FTs

S. Rivera 22 pts  0/0 FTs

P. Vaimaona 12 tot  2 off  10 def

K. Quinlan 9 tot  5 off  4 def

D. Williams 2 ast

S. Rivera 2 ast

KAILUA – Roosevelt had more than enough saved up in the tank against Kailua in its 75-52 wire-to-wire road victory Tuesday night. 

The Rough Riders, ranked No. 4 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings, outscored Kailua 41-22 in the second half to remain undefeated in Oahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division play. The win improved Roosevelt's record to 10-0, making Thursday's game against Kaiser (9-1) a battle for first place in the East.

Host Kailua dropped to 8-2.

"We feel pretty confident as we finish up our season. I think we've gotten better overall and I think we're ready for the playoffs," said Roosevelt senior guard Starr Rivera who scored a game-high 22 points. 

Another strong presence in the contest for Roosevelt was junior post Keala Quinlan who had 20 points on 14 shot attempts. She also added nine rebounds and seven blocks, six of which came in the first half, for a near triple-double. 

"She stepped up," Rivera said on Quinlan. "She had a lot of cuts and she was covering for us." 

Also finishing in double figures for the Rough Riders was Sharice Kawakami with 12 points and three steals. 

One key element in the game was the high tempo that Roosevelt maintained for the duration of the game. Kailua tried its best to keep up, but had a lot of costly turnovers (24 total) that allowed Roosevelt to have 13 more shot attempts.

"These girls have energy," said Roosevelt coach Hinano Higa. "I don't know where it comes from, but one way or another they find that second wind and they push themselves and push the ball up a little bit harder, hoping that our opponent is slowing down a little bit so we can try to run past them." 

Leading the Surfriders in the loss was senior center Patria Vaimaoana who had a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds.

Although Roosevelt had the lead early on in the game, Kailua remained close behind in the rear view mirror. Spurred on by a spirited senior night crowd, the Surfriders slowly and surely chip into the Rough Riders' lead as the first half went on.

Kailua would eventually tie the score 27-all on Vaimaona's strong move in the paint, but Roosevelt would respond with a 7-0 run to retake the lead. Kailua's Delcie Williams scored the final three points of the first half to make the score 34-30 heading into the break. 

The second half was a much different story. After Vaimaona got things going with a put back attempt, Roosevelt went on a 10-2 run to open up a double-digit lead three minutes into the third quarter.

Roosevelt maintained its second half intensity throughout the fourth quarter and led by as many as 25 points in the contest. 

"I think we calmed down a lot and our defense really came together and we covered each other's back," Rivera said on the team's second half effort.