Roosevelt Guard Starr Rivera, put up eleven points for the rough riders on her senior night. Evan Asato | SL

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Roosevelt forward, Keala Quinlan puts up a shot against Kaiser. Evan Asato | SL

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Thu, Jan 22, 2015 @ Roosevelt

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Kaiser

43

Roosevelt

61

Final	1	2	3	4
Kaiser (9-4, 17-8)	12	10	15	6	43
Roosevelt (14-0, 20-4)	23	7	16	15	61

K. Quinlan 19 pts  3/4 FTs

B. Baker 13 pts  7/14 FTs

MAKIKI— Roosevelt capped an undefeated regular season at 11-0 as they beat Kaiser, 61-43 on their Senior Night on Thursday night.

"I think we picked up our energy because it was senior night and go out with a bang and finish hard. It's a good feeling and hopefully we continue this in the playoffs," said senior guard Starr Rivera.

"We won this for our seniors and I love all of them and I wish us the best in the playoffs," said junior forward Keala Quinlan.

The Rough Riders will claim the East's top seed in the Oahu Interscholastic Association playoffs while Kaiser finished 9-2 creating a three-way tie between Kailua and Farrington for second place.

"It's always a dream for the girls, it's a good feeling to be undefeated, but the journey is over yet, it's just starting," said Roosevelt coach Hinano Higa.

Keala Quinlan finished the game with 19 points and blocked six shots and Starr Rivera added 11 points, four assists and five steals for the Rough Riders.

"She's always a big presence in the post, but not only in the post, she steps out as well to play defense and she takes the man off the dribble as well so it's a luxury to have her," said Higa, on Quinlan.

Brandi Baker scored a team-high 13 points, Brooke Ho scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and Rose Shimaoka added 10 points and nine rebounds for Kaiser.

Roosevelt pushed the lead to 12-5 after a steal and layup from Ashley Kiko. Kaiser made 10 trips to the free throw line and scored seven of their 12 quarter points from free throws. A 3-pointer from Kaonohi Quinlan made it 21-10 and Destiny Holani had a layup before the buzzer to give the Rough Riders a 23-12 lead heading into the second quarter.

"I think when we slowed it down and controlled the game and swung the ball and made the extra passes, that's when we controlled the game," said Rivera.

Their tenacity on the offensive glass gave the Rough Riders second chance opportunities. Rivera had about six offensive rebounds.

"We got a lot rebounds, that was the key with the energy but in the second quarter we kind of slowed down a little and didn't score as much. We like to run an uptempo game, just like Kaiser, they push up and down the floor," said Higa.

The Rough Riders cooled off in the second quarter, but managed to take a 30-22 lead at halftime.

"We talked about keeping it together and play as a team. We had to pick up our defense and that's how we got our game back together," said Rivera, on second half adjustments.

"First quarter we had more offensive rebounds than the second quarter. We had to bounce back after halftime," said Quinlan.

Roosevelt jumped out to a 10-2 run to start the third, Rivera's layup made it 40-24. The Cougars made a run of their own and Ho's 3-point play cut the deficit to 10, 44-34. Quinlan was active on defense and blocked five of her six shots in the quarter. Chelsea Soong's two free throws cut it to single digits, 46-37.

"We talked about not forcing shots, settling what we need to get into, getting people in the right places, getting the right people touches with the ball and everything will come together," said Higa, on halftime adjustments.

Kaiser shot 17 of 33 (51.5 percent) from the free throw line for the game, Ho went 8 of 13, while Baker shot 7 of 14. Roosevelt shot 7 of 14 for the game.

Despite picking up her fourth foul with 7:25 remaining in the fourth, Sharice Kawakami scored five-straight points: a 3-pointer and layup to push the lead to 51-37 and Kaiser called a timeout. Shimaoka's steal and layup made it 54-42, but the Cougars could get no closer for the rest of the game.

"We made some adjustments in the second half and we had runs where we had steals and I just let them play basketball and read what they can. They have been with me for four years so the experience is there," said Higa.