Senior guard Alexis Delovio and her Spartans have found a way to reinvent themselves despite some setbacks this season. John Lujan | Special to SL

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The Maryknoll girls basketball team has found a way to reinvent itself.

Following a 55-52 win over previously-unbeaten Punahou Saturday afternoon, the Spartans (15-1 overall, 7-1 league) find themselves atop the Division I standings in the rigorous Interscholastic League of Honolulu with a half-game lead on the Buffanblu (10-7, 6-1).

Perhaps it should come as no surprise given that Maryknoll is the reigning ILH champion and has qualified for the past two state tournaments, but as any coach will say, last year has little to nothing to do with this season.

Then again, the Spartans did lose last year's league player of the year, Maegen Martin, to graduation, along with a few other pieces. Furthermore, it's top returnee this year, senior guard Alexis Delovio, has been dealing with a nagging knee injury that has vastly limited her minutes this season.

The health of Delovio — a First Team All-ILH selection last year — could have been a huge detriment for the Spartans. Instead, they have found a way to make the best of it.

Venerable coach Chico Furtado has opted to bring Delovio off the bench this year — which has a two-folds benefit.

"We're trying to cut down on her minutes because of the knee, but it also gives us a boost with our second unit," Furtado said. "Lexi with the second group gives us more balance with that unit and creates more depth for us."

Delovio, one of just two seniors on the roster, has handled the move with maturity, Furtado said.

"Yeah, I've talked to her and I explained to her; She's a smart kid and she knows," Furtado said. "She doesn't have an ego issue or anything like that. I mean, on senior night I'll start her because she's a senior. I try to be cognizant of that, but at the same time it's about what makes our team better."

So far it seems that the move has paid off. Delovio contributed nine points against the Buffanblu Saturday. Sophomore point guard Rhianne Omori led the way with 12 points, while three others chipped in eight points apiece.

"I think we have a lot of depth and that's something we want to make use of," Furtado said.

Maryknoll's depth played a big part in its win over Punahou. Eleven different players saw considerable minutes, while the Buffanblu went with just an eight-man rotation.

Each time the visitors made a run, the Spartans had an answer.

When Punahou scored 10 straight points to tie it at 10 early on, Maryknoll struck back with an 8-0 run to close out the first quarter. Late in the second quarter, Punahou made six straight from the free-throw line to pull ahead, 20-15. However, Maryknoll made the final three buckets of the period to take a 21-20 lead into halftime.

"I really am very proud of the effort; our kids played hard," Furtado said. "There's three things we try to accomplish in every game: play hard, play smart and play well."

Back in the preseason — the only other time I managed to see Furtado's team in action — he mentioned the development of posts Kamalu Kamakawiwoole, Isabella Cravens and Moe Notoa as key factors for the upcoming season. It was obvious Saturday that the trio have made significant gains since then.

Kamakawiwoole, a 5-foot-9 freshman forward, came off the bench to score eight points, as did Cravens, a 6-foot-1 sophomore center. Another sophomore, 5-foot-5 guard Ysabelle Halemano, also chipped in eight points in a reserve role.

"We try to be balanced," Furtado said. "I think if you look at the last time we played Punahou (a 54-51 loss on Dec. 11), we settled for way too many outside shots. If you look at our shot chart now, there's a cluster of stuff around the bucket and that's our guards driving the ball and our bigs grabbing some rebounds."

Furtado and company have rolled with the punches so far. They'll return to the court Thursday when they host Kamehameha at 6:30 p.m.