WAILUKU – The Mililani girls basketball team slipped past the Warriors, 46-42, at the 4th Annual Sparks-Giving Turkey Challenge Youth Basketball Tournament, Friday, at War Memorial Gymnasium.

“I think [our team is] slowly getting better. We have the pieces, we just have to put it together right now. But they did good,” Mililani junior varsity coach Daryl Kawamoto said.

The head coach for Mililani could not make it to the tournament, so jv coach Kawamoto filled in for the tournament.

The game started quickly for Mililani, with the Warriors following closely behind. The first quarter ended with a score of 13-10.

As the game progressed into the second quarter, the ball never stayed on one side too long. Both teams were creating movement on their respective sides. By the end of the second quarter, the score was 22-19.

In the third quarter, the score ended 30-28, with Mililani continuing to maintain a one to three point lead.

Many of the points were made through free throws for both teams, especially during the fourth quarter.

When there was 1:32 left on the clock, senior Warrior Ashley Peralta got injured and was forced to sit out for the remainder of the game.

“I think we played all right, we definitely could’ve done a lot better. We didn’t reach our goal of winning the entire game but we got a lot to improve on. We’re going to work on it on Monday, and we have another game on Tuesday,” captain Kimani Fernandez-Roy said.

The Warriors will be opening their regular season against Lahainaluna this Tuesday at the Lahainaluna High School gymnasium at 7 p.m.

Gallery • 10 Photos

Photo by Riann Fujihara

The team focuses intently on the game during the second quarter.