In a tight defensive contest, Roosevelt kept its poise down the stretch and kept its hopes alive in the OIA playoffs with a hard-fought 35-31 win over Aiea.

By withstanding a fourth quarter Aiea rally, host Roosevelt(8-4), the East's #4 seed advanced to tonight's second round playoff game against the West's #1 seed Mililani. Aiea, the West's #5 seed ended its season with a 5-6 record.

Despite not making its first field goal until 32 seconds remained in the first half and trailing by as many as 11 (26-15) late in the third quarter, Na Alii caught fire in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to two, 28-26 when Pumehana Beltran, who led all scorers with 12 points-10 in the second half- made a 3-point play with 4:47 left.

But the Rough Riders responded with baskets by Krystie Chung and Tatiana Mariano in the next 30 seconds. Aiea, which then missed 5 consecutive free throws, never got closer than four points again.

Twice in the final four minutes Roosevelt smartly kept the ball for nearly a minute each to eat up time and survive despite having two players foul out.

Kira Arruda's 9 points (2 treys) led Roosevelt, which used only 7 of its 8 players in uniform. Mariano, a freshman playing her first game after suffering a shoulder separation early in the season, came off the bench to add 8. The Rough Riders shot 13 of 41 from the field (32%) and 4 of 16 treys (25%)

Aiea, which made only 1 of 13 field goals attempts in the first half, shot 10 for 33 (30%) and 1 of 6 (17%) beyond the arc.

Neither team shot well from the free throw line. Roosevelt was 5 for 15 (33%) and Aiea was 10 for 24 (42%).

Roosevelt had 15 turnovers and Aiea 22.

Winning coach Hinano Higa realized she had been in a tough game and praised Aiea's effort. "They knew this was their last chance and they came out to battle." Of her own team's poised keep-away play near the end she said, "We kept the ball moving and made them chase us. We found it at the end."

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