Mililani's Kapili Amamalin puts up a shot over two Leilehua defenders. Joshua Lopez | Mililani HS

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Wed, Dec 5, 2012 @ Leilehua

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Mililani

44

Leilehua

37

Final	1	2	3	4
Mililani (12-1, 13-3)	11	7	13	13	44
Leilehua (12-1, 14-2)	7	7	10	13	37

E. Bowden 15 pts  5/6 FTs

K. Amamalin 14 pts  0/1 FTs

WAHIAWA - Kapili Amamalin scored 14 points and Nayla Long added 13 points to lead Mililani to a 44-37 win over Leilehua in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red West Conference opener for both teams Wednesday night.

A small crowd of 150 fans at Paul T. Kobayashi Gymnasium saw the Trojans lead throughout to improve to 8-2 overall and 1-0 in division. The Mules fell to 9-3 overall and 0-1 in the Red West.

"Everytime (Amamalin) goes out, the whole complexion of the game changes for us," Mililani coach Pat Basilio said. "She's a beast on the court and so we lose that, but a couple of the other players stepped up and played their game, tried to fill the void and for the most part, they did well."

Amamalin scored eight points in the second half and Long had seven points after halftime for the Trojans, who were just 4 of 11 on free throws. Zyriana Davies pitched in seven points and Kira Arruda drained a pair of 3-pointers.

Mililani played without point guards Mikaela Limper and Jamie Yuki, and distributed ball-handling duties between several players, including Amamalin, Long and Kaylee Torres.

"I think we made do with what we had, but I think for the most part with the injuries and foul trouble that (Leilehua) had early on, we just didn't capitalize the way we should have," Basilio said. "Leilehua is always a tough battle, regardless, and they fought through it again tonight."

Limper and Yuki are both working their way back from preseason injuries.

Meanwhile, Leilehua was hardly at full strength either - it played without posts Tyanna Abbott and Mere McKenzie. Whatsmore, guard Jazmyn Dangaran left the game with an apparent lower leg injury in the first quarter and did not return.

Elyshia Bowden paced the Mules with her strong post play and game-high 15 points and Carissa McBride added 10 points.

"She stepped up huge for us tonight and she's been doing that all preseason," Leilehua coach Elroy Dumlao said of Bowden. "She's scored 20, 19, 18 points up in Lahaina, but at the same time it hurt us a little bit at the end, because we needed a little more from the rest of the bigs."

Bowden battled muscle cramps in her legs for much of the second half and ultimately left the game with just over two minutes to play.

"We've got to learn and our girls need to step it up somehow," Dumlao said. "Hopefully this will be a learning experience for us and we'll get our wounded back and be at full strength for most of the season."

Leilehua got to the free-throw line just eight times, but made six of its attempts.

However, the Mules were unable to overcome a turnover-plagued first quarter. Mililani built a 9-0 lead after Leilehua committed turnovers on six of its first seven possessions.

"It was hard to come back from that," Dumlao said. "Our (second-string players) were not ready for this high-energy, type of basketball against a seasoned team like Mililani."

The Trojans held an 11-7 lead after the first quarter and an 18-14 advantage at halftime.

Amamalin's baseline drive and bucket gave Mililani a 25-18 lead midway through the third quarter, but Bowden scored off a feed from McBride and sank a pair of free throws to close it to 27-22 with 3:01 left in the quarter. However, Mililani used a 6-2 run to again make it a 7-point lead.

Leilehua closed it to 33-30 with 5:49 to play on Tiffany Reyher's only basket of the game, but Arruda answered with a 3-pointer and Long followed with an inside basket to extend the Trojans' lead to 38-30.

Briana Crawley's layup with 2:21 remaining pulled the Mules to within three points at 40-37, but Arruda found Davies under the basket on an inbounds play to make it 42-37. Amamalin closed the scoring when she capitalized on a Leilehua miscue. A Mililani shot attempt was headed out of bounds, but a Leilehua player attempted to save it and instead threw it to Amamalin, who drove to the hoop for the easy lay-in.

"I think pretty much the whole preseason the seniors just ran things on the court," Basilio said. "We tell them on the sidelines and they tell everybody else on the court and that's the way we want to do it, so they're a well-oiled machine, or can be."

Both teams return to the court Saturday when Leilehua hosts Campbell and Mililani hosts Pearl City.