MHS wins 5th straight cage crown

Marianas High School Lady Dolphins players, coach, and supporters pose for a group photo after winning their fifth straight title in the Marianas Interscholastic Sports Organization Girls Basketball League. MHS beat Mt. Carmel School in the finals, 78-67, last Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Jon Perez)

MHS, which swept its way in the elimination round to earn the top seeding in the final tournament, collected its fifth straight title.

The Lady Dolphins, who drew a bye in the final tournament, scored an easy 27-4 decision against Tinian in their first game and earned the first championship berth after a 53-32 thrashing of the Mt. Carmel Lady Knights in the winners bracket semifinals.

The Lady Knights then bounced back from the loss by crushing MHS 9 in the losers bracket semis, 62-20, to arrange a title showdown with the defending champions.

In the finals, there was a close battle in the first quarter as both teams played tentative as if sizing each other up. The Lady Dolphins went on to take a manageable 4-point lead after the first 10 minutes of play.

A Julie Reyes basket then ignited an 8-2 spurt early in the second quarter and gave the Lady Dolphins their first taste of several double-digit advantages, 22-12.

MCS trimmed the deficit to single digit, 24-16, midway in the second period, but a Kyla Ito 3-pointer touched off a closing 11-5 exchange to give MHS a 37-21 halftime spread. The Lady Dolphins outscored the Lady Knights in the second quarter, 23-11, to end the half with a promising 16-point lead.

It was cruise control for MHS the rest of the game as it found ways to quash every MCS comeback attempt. A Gabrielle Race layup gave the Lady Dolphins their biggest lead at 71-54 with 3:57 left in the game clock.

Despite trailing by a big margin with the clock ticking, the Lady Knights refused to go down that easily with Jennifer Villagomez, Jan-nasia Travilla and Tawnie Manibusan burying one 3-pointer each in an 11-2 exchange as MCS threatened for the last time, 75-65, 1:48.

Mt. Carmel, with MHS committing back-to-back turnovers, had several chances of inching closer but Manibusan, Travilla and Villagomez’s ensuing 3-point attempts failed to hit their marks, while Patricia Echavez’s dagger 3-pointer in the 50.3-second mark seal the deal for the Lady Dolphins.

MHS just ran up the clock in their next ball possessions, while MCS continued to miss their shots. A Travilla steal and layup pegged the final tally.

Ito paced the Lady Dolphins with her 15 points while Race, Jenny Lee, Mikayla Lopez, and Neghar Rastguiy chipped in 10 markers each. Abantao and Joy Pena scored 8 apiece, while Reyes tallied 7.

Mt. Carmel’s loss put to waste Travilla’s 30-point output, while Karleen Reyes scattered 20 markers and Manibusan had 10. Jennifer Villagomez and Masami Sato were the other scorers for the Lady Knights with 5 and 2 points, respectively.

MHS 78 – Ito 15, Lee 10, Lopez 10, Race 10, Rastguiy 10, Abantao 8, Pena 8, Reyes 7.

MCS 67 – Travilla 30, Reyes 20, Manibusan 10, Villagomez 5, Sato 2.

Scoring by quarters: 14-10, 37-21, 53-48, 78-67.