Saipan Tribune

Monday, May 20, 2013

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Lady Knights ward off Lady Rays

The Mount Carmel School Lady Knights erupted in the second quarter and held on to defeat the Lady Manta Rays of Saipan Southern High School, 59-52, in the varsity division game in the 2012-2013 Marianas Interscholastic Sports Organization Girls Basketball League last Monday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.

Mt. Carmel finished its regular season campaign on a winning note, as it improved to a 2-4 record, tying Kagman High School's Lady Ayuyus in third place in the team standings. Southern fell to a 2-3 slate and has a tough test in its last game of the season, as it faces two-time champions MHS Lady Dolphins today. The Lady Dolphins go for regular season sweeps against Southern today both in the varsity and junior varsity divisions. MHS' junior varsity squad is undefeated in three games, however Southern (2-1) is close behind and can knot up the count with an upset at the 4:30pm tiff. Kagman (0-4) completes the junior field.

In the MCS-Southern clash, Ayana Ongelungel gashed MCS with an 11-point tear in the opening 10 minutes to give her Lady Rays a slim 15-12 edge.

However, Ongelungel was held to just 5 points in the second quarter, as MCS mounted a big surge on the other end to grab the upper hand at halftime, 31-22. Michelle Kautz and Kaylani Lebria teamed up for 14 points and Jasmine Che made a triple in the second-quarter push.

Ongelungel then pulled on an 8-point string after the break to bring the Lady Rays to within two possessions, 36-41, in the third period. However, Lebria willed her Lady Knights to victory with 10 points in the clutch.

Lebria finished with a team-high 23 points and received 27 in support from Kautz (14) and Carey Demapan (13), while Ongelungel turned in a valiant effort of 34 and could have really used added help from Roxanne Duenas, who missed last Monday's game.

MCS 59 - Lebria 23, M. Kautz 14, Demapan 13, Che 5, R. Kautz 2, Taylor 2.

SSHS 52 - Ongelungel 34, V. Bartolo 6, Hocog 4, Rogoyawa 4, C. Bartolo, 2, Lizama 2.

Scoring by quarters: 12-15, 31-22, 41-36, 59-52.