Sablay takes Mililani to top of OIA West

Dahlis Sablay scored 17 points as Mililani held on for a 51-40 win over No. 8 Campbell on Saturday night to clinch first place in the Oahu Interscholastic Association West.

Mililani is 8-0 with a home game against Nanakuli on Tuesday. Even if they lose that game, the Lady Trojans already have a tiebreaker edge on their closest competitors Radford and, now, Campbell (7-2 OIA West).

The Sabers never led and faced an 11-2 deficit at the start. They got within 41-35 with less than five minutes to play, but the superb sophomore, Sablay, lofted in a 12-foot floater on the baseline. That sparked a 5-0 Mililani run, with a follow shot by Cheyenne Ardona and a free throw from Kayla Tansiongco that pushed the visitors’ lead to 46-35 with 1:35 to play.

Campbell lost its second straight game after a 7-0 start in OIA West play.

“I knew going into this part of the season that we’d have an extra tough time,” Sabers coach Summer Aona said. “I’m very proud of our girls. Hopefully, we want to be able to get at least third place in the standings.”

It has been quite a turnaround for Mililani, which struggled in preseason (3-7), but always had the components for a potential title run.

“During preseason, we had a rough road. We had to find ourselves,” Sablay said. “But we always have team bondings and have a lot of fun.”

Saturday night at Campbell was fun for the Trojans, who got a defensive gem from junior forward Kalena Gibson. She scored eight points, but also covered Campbell’s talented guard, Gieani Balino.

The senior finished with 14 points on 3-for-14 shooting against Mililani’s relentless man-to-man defense.

“Gieani is a great player, but I take pride in my defense. I hate when people score on me,” said Gibson, who has long arms and quick feet and plays a lot bigger than her 5-foot-7 stature.

Ardona finished with six points and 11 rebounds, dominating the defensive glass during Campbell’s last-gasp comeback attempt.

Campbell also got a gutsy effort from Orepa Fatu, a 5-6 junior who battled the 6-2 Ardona tooth and nail. Fatu finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Mililani’s interim coach, Francis Dagan, had a game plan to keep his defenders on Campbell’s streaky perimeter shooters.

“We came with a good pace. We like to run up and down the court,” Dagan said. “As much as we expect to rebound, we’ve had a hard time doing that. We did much better tonight.”

Mililani won the battle on the boards, 36-20, and shot 47 percent from the field (18-for-38). The Trojans also shot a stellar 76 percent at the foul line (13-for-17).

Campbell’s fullcourt press had an effect late in the game. Mililani finished with 14 turnovers, but limited the Sabers to less than 30 percent shooting from the field (14-for-47). Campbell shot 3-for-18 from 3-point range.