4-peat for Lady Dolphins in HS hoops

The Marianas High School Lady Dolphins varsity basketball team poses for a photo after winning their fourth straight title when they defeated Saipan Southern High School in the championship game of the 2022 IT&E Interscholastic Girls High School Basketball League last Saturday at the MHS Gymnasium. Joining them are their coaches and Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation president James Lee, left, back row, and CNMI women’s national team head coach Catherine Attao, right. (LEIGH GASES)

The Marianas High School Lady Dolphins won their unprecedented fourth straight title after defeating the Saipan Southern High School Lady Manta Rays in the championship game of the 2022 IT&E Interscholastic Girls High School Basketball League last Saturday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. 

Coasting into the postseason with only one loss, the Lady Dolphins carried on their momentum in the finals, defeating the Lady Mantas in the first game of the morning, 46-28, then defeating them 38-24 in the final game.

Marianas High School’s Helenor Ogumoro is fouled by a Saipan Southern High School defender as she goes for a shot during the championship of the 2022 IT&E Interscholastic Girls High School Basketball League last Saturday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. (LEIGH GASES)

In the first period of the championship game while the Lady Dolphins were racking up points early on and wading almost effortlessly through the court, the Lady Mantas were slightly out of their depth as they were limited to just 14 points. 

Yasmeen Younis scored 6 of the team’s points with teammates Leney Sagarino adding a 2-pointer and Tasilyn Ramon scoring two free throws.

From within the paint, speedy MHS junior Destiny Pangelinan whipped out the big guns, as is her modus operandi and scored 8 points in the first half. She and teammate Angellyn Roligat were one and the same as communication and teamwork allowed Roligat 6 points and assisted Pangelinan with a big lead into the second half.

The Lady Mantas found a better handle on the ball in the second half, but were too late to play catchup as the Lady Dolphins were smooth as butter shooting their shots. While the Lady Mantas managed to score 14 points and the Lady Dolphins 12, the deficit was just too big to close.

Pangelinan ended up scoring 6 more points to finish withh 14 points in the game, while Roligat added 8 more in support. Kalista Klaver-McDonald, Raenna Ramarui, and Helenor Ogumoro also chipped in at least 2 points in the title-clincher.

Younis wound up with 10 in a losing effort.

Grace Christian Academy took third place after beating Agape Christian School, 42-29. They lost to SSHS, 36-35, in the semifinals earlier in the morning.

Lady Dolphins head coach Dan Wollak said about the season, “I thought they played extremely well all tournament long. A couple of the games we started off really struggling getting the ball in the hoop. And then once we kind of got into our offense, into our flow, and started making easy baskets, they kind of settled down and I was happy with their effort.”

Wollak attributed their success to the team that have been together throughout the four years. “We have a ton of seniors that have been playing together for four years so they know what we’re trying to accomplish offensively, defensively, and the transition. They’re really comfortable with each other, so just do what we do. They know each other so well… if we play our brand of basketball, we’re pretty confident that we’re [going to] be successful.

When asked how it felt to coach the team to four straight titles, Wollak said “it feels great. The girls for the last two and a half months, they’ve been training hard and they’ve been coming into practice every day and they worked their butts off and like I said, they’ve been together for so long that they just naturally gel and they have that chemistry.”

With eight players graduating next year, he said “we’ll be adapting to a new team and well… we’re [going to] lose a lot of leadership, a lot of skill, but our seniors laid a foundation for our freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, and now… they’re passing off the torch to the future…”

The championship team consists of the aforementioned Pangelinan, Roligat, Klaver-McDonald, Ramarui, and Ogumoro, along with Kina Rangamar, Marielle Lopez, Loralyle Ogumoro, Jillian Ferrer, Naomi Zannobi, Tamia Hix, Lena Hofschneider, Sha Aina Mendoza, and Tinalyn Litulumar. The rest of the coaching staff with Wollack are Gabrielle Race, Preston Basa, and Jun Del Rosario.

The IT&E Interscholastic Girls High School Basketball League was run by the Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation.

MHS 38 – Pangelinan 14, Roligat 8, Ramarui 6, Klaver-McDonald and Mendoza 4, H. Ogumoro 2.
SSHS 24 – Younis 10, Ramon 7, Manahane 4, Sagarino 3.