Roosevelt's Keala Quinlan lead the Rough Riders with 17 points in a win Mililani. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

Purchase image 1 of 5

Roosevelt's Sharice Kawakami heads to the basket for a fast break layup against Mililani. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

Purchase image 2 of 5

Mililani's Sarah Liva puts up a shot against Roosevelt. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

Purchase image 3 of 5

Roosevelt's Devyn Kauhi passes the ball to a teammate as Mililani's Mikaela Limper defends. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

Purchase image 4 of 5

Roosevelt's Kaohi Kapiko charges her way through Mililani defenders. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

Purchase image 5 of 5

Wed, Jan 29, 2014 @ McKinley

---

Mililani

44

Roosevelt

62

Final	1	2	3	4
Mililani (12-1, 23-4)	16	8	12	8	44
Roosevelt (13-0, 15-3)	12	15	18	17	62

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

K. Quinlan 17 pts  1 3pm

S. Liva 19 pts

K. Quinlan 8 tot  3 off  5 def

S. Liva 10 tot  5 off  5 def

D. Kauhi 3 ast

Z. Davies 3 ast

An anticipated battle of two unbeatens turned into a lopsided affair when all was said and done at McKinley’s Student Council Gymnasium Wednesday night.

Roosevelt, ranked No. 3 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Girls Basketball Power Rankings, routed Mililani, 62-44, to claim their first Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Division title since 2007. The Rough Riders capped league play without a blemish, going 13-0 en route to their fifth overall league title. 

“It’s awesome,” Roosevelt coach Hinano Higa said after the game. “This was our goal from the beginning. They were hungry, humble, and they just wanted it.” 

Mililani, No. 4 in the same poll, suffered their first loss since losing to No. 1 Lahainaluna in November of last year. This was the second straight appearance in the OIA Red championship game for the Trojans, who lost to Leilehua in 2013. 

“Credit to Roosevelt, they really made an adjustment,” said Mililani coach Patrick Basilio. “It was a tough game for us. We had our chances, but we just lost our heads.”

The 18-point loss overshadowed a monster effort by Mililani’s Sarah Liva. The senior center led all scorers with 19 points, and also added 10 rebounds and two blocked shots.

“It was pretty rough in the beginning. We didn’t know how to play her,” said Roosevelt’s Keala Quinlan on Liva. “We had to adjust a little bit so it was pretty hard.”

The Rough Riders utilized a balanced attack to control the Trojans, seeing four players score in double figures. Quinlan, who spent most of the game guarding Liva, nearly matched the Trojan center’s efforts, posting 17 points with eight rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots.

“I just thought that I should be out there, (to) try my best, my hardest, to be a competitor,” Quinlan said on her performance going against Liva.

Senior forward Tavae Sina Sofa was the second leading scorer for Roosevelt with 12 points. Roosevelt guards Sharice Kawakami and Starr Rivera added 11 points each in the win.

“We’ve been like that throughout the season,” said Higa. “We don’t have one player that stands out.”

Despite being the smaller team, the Rough Riders outrebounded the Trojans 42-34. Roosevelt was also able to get more shot attempts near the basket, thanks to their 18 offensive rebounds.

“I think it’s just us being able to find the ball, track down the ball. We weren’t trying to use too much muscle,” Higa said on the rebounding battle. “Just having a nose for the ball, that helped us a lot.”

Another factor in the Rough Riders’ win was turnovers. Mililani committed 22 turnovers, compared to Roosevelt’s 13. This allowed the Rough Riders to attempt 18 more shot attempts than Mililani.

“Just (holding our) composure. We knew they were going to bring the pressure,” lamented Basilio. “We dealt with it for a little bit. I think they just let it catch up to them a little bit.”

Despite the final score, the Rough Riders wasn’t always on top. Liva’s seven points and seven rebounds in the first quarter helped the Trojans take a 16-12 lead after the first quarter.

Mililani continued to dictate the pace into the second quarter, going up as much as seven points. Liva’s basket off a Zyriana Davies’ assist gave the Trojans their largest lead of the game with 4:40 remaining.

However, Roosevelt remained unfazed.

The Rough Riders ended the quarter on a 10-run to take a three-point lead heading into halftime. Rivera’s jumper before the end of the first half made the score 27-24 at the break.

“We kept it together, played as a team,” said Rivera.

A trip to the locker room would not dispel the newfound Roosevelt momentum as they rattled nine straight to start the third quarter. Liva’s two made free throws at the 4:02 mark in the third quarter ended a 19-0 Roosevelt run that lasted for eight minutes and 38 seconds in game time.

“We’ve been in that situation a little bit before during (the) preseason,” Higa said on being down by seven in the second quarter. “We’ve been playing great basketball so I didn’t want to be (too) quick to call a timeout. They found the energy (and) they executed what they needed to and made that run.”

Roosevelt also adjusted their defense to counter Liva in the paint. The Trojans were unable to execute their offense and Roosevelt made them pay. Mililani was held to 30 percent shooting on the night.

“I think Shantel (Appleby) picking up her second foul rally hurt us a lot,” remarked Basilio. “I know it kind of got us out of our comfort zone with our high-low (game).

“They started doubling down on the bottom, where they was cheating over on the help side – so our lob wasn’t as effective. Sarah started rushing some shots, Shantel started rushing shots – some passes that we shouldn’t have been throwing. It was a compilation of a bunch of a stuff.”

Mililani was able to stop the bleeding with an Appleby basket, before Kawakami answered with a deep 27-footer to give Roosevelt a 43-28 lead at the 2:21 mark of the third quarter. The Trojans closed out the rest of the quarter with an 8-2 run to make the score 45-36 heading into the fourth.

The top-seeded team from the Western Division continued to chip away at the Rough Riders’ lead, getting it down to six on a Mikaela Limper 3-pointer, but was unable to keep up with Roosevelt’s frantic pace. Powered by their guards, the Rough Riders left no doubt in the fourth quarter, outscoring Mililani 17-8.

“We’re very balanced in our guard play. We practice a lot, we play as team,” said Rivera.

With the OIA title in hand, Roosevelt will receive a seeded berth and a first round bye in the 2014 Hawaiian Airlines Division I Girls Basketball Championships. Mililani had already clinched one of the OIA’s six berths into the tourney prior to the OIA Red title game. The 12-team tournament gets underway on Feb. 7. 

“It was a really good game,” Rivera said after the postgame festivities. “This was our best game that we ever played as a team. If we keep doing this, we can go really far in states.”

The other four OIA teams to play in the state tournament are Moanalua, Kailua, Leilehua and Radford.