KiannaBriel Maldia saved her best game for the biggest stage.
Playing Sobrato’s biggest rivals, Maldia had 28 points—including scoring 13 in the third quarter—to lead the Bulldogs to a 51-42 win Friday night to cap a four-game marathon against Live Oak.
“This was definitely her stand out game as a leader, offensively, defensively and as a spark,” said Sobrato coach Erica Wallace. “This is definitely her highest scoring game, but she impressed me being a sophomore in this environment. It isn’t easy.”
Sobrato improves to 12-4 overall and 5-1 in South Division play. Live Oak fell to 7-9 overall and 3-3 in league play.
Traditionally the varsity boys play the finale, but Friday was the girls and the two teams did not disappoint.
Live Oak led 25-23 at the half and had Grace Smith scoring 17 points with 12 rebounds to lead the charge for the Acorns.
Smith just missed a triple-double, coming away with seven steals.
Live Oak converted all of Sobrato’s turnovers into just eight points.
The Acorns, meanwhile, surrendered 17 points off of turnovers which kept Sobrato in the game early and ultimately allowed the Bulldogs to go ahead.
Acorns coach Mike Kiefer said while it stings to lose, he was still pleased with the way the girls played against their rivals.
“I felt we played great basketball for four quarters and we competed for four quarters,” Kiefer said. “The difference was when it came down to it, they made the plays when it counted and we didn’t. I felt we did good defensively. We held them to where we wanted to hold them to, it just came in the offensive end the bucket went dry for a little bit.”
In fact, when you take away the two top scorers from both teams, Live Oak out scored Sobrato 25-23, which makes Maldia’s night even more special.
“It was good to see that when our go-to starters can’t produce, we can some how get crafty and pull out a win,” Wallace said.
Maldia said she didn’t realize just the kind of night she was having, just basically living in the moment.
“Going into the third quarter, I slipped and fell coming out of a break and I brushed that off. I just smiled and laughed it off,” Maldia said. “Coming into the quarter it was just business because there is no other half to settle it until the next game. And we don’t want to go into the next game. We want to finish it now.”
When the third quarter ended, she led the celebration with her teammates, which was about the only emotion she allowed herself to show.
“You have to maintain your composure, no matter what,” Maldia said. “You can’t show any emotion. You can be happy, but you can’t show any emotion like being mad or it’s not going to look good. Then the other team knows how you play and get into your head.”
Her 13-point third quarter led a 19-point charge that put Sobrato up by six after trailing going into halftime.
“I didn’t even realize I got that many points in the third quarter,” Maldia said. “I was just playing the way you have to play. I wasn’t doing anything to allow them to get into my head. I was just playing my game.”
Sobrato clawed back from a first quarter deficit to eventually go up 12-11 after Maldia hit an and-one to close out the frame.
But Live Oak went off for 14 in the second quarter, led by five points from Cameron O’Connell and four from Smith.
Maldia hit six to keep the Bulldogs afloat in the quarter, going in down two, instead of five—which is what Sobrato trailed by at one point in the second.
Coming out of the break, it was the Maldia show, but Live Oak wasn’t completely upstaged, either.
“I think we played solid defense tonight, but Kianna made some great plays and she made our help adjust. She sees the floor really well and she saw the open people and they were able to put the ball in the bucket. I don’t think our defense was bad, but for her to be able to make that play we have to be able to help to compensate.”
Smith and freshman guard Adrianne Gomez combined for a trio of 3s to help Live Oak to an 11-point quarter.
“Grace is a great player, so we were just trying to limit her,” Wallace said. “Even when we were out there on her, she was still shooting the 3. She’s just a
great player.”
Kiefer said he was impressed with Gomez’ play—along with the new players up and down his roster—and noted the freshman is going to be someone to watch as
she progresses.
“She’s improving everyday and once she figures out just how good she is, I think there’s going to be points where she’s going to be unstoppable,” Kiefer said. “She’s got an phenomenal shot. She’s not afraid to go to the bucket. I’m excited to see her improve everyday.”
Wallace added that it also helped that Maldia bought into driving against Live Oak’s defense to prevent the Acorns from gathering steals and also that easy layups started to fall.
By the fourth quarter, the juice on both sides seemed to fade, as neither side broke
double figures.
Sobrato was held to a single field goal, but stayed alive thanks to hitting seven free throws.
Live Oak, meanwhile, went to the line once and was held to six points on three field goals.
Sobrato has a one-game lead entering play on Wednesday over Oak Grove, Leland and Gunderson for first place. Sobrato played Santa Teresa Wednesday night, which started after presstime.
Oak Grove is the only team that has put a blemish on Sobrato’s record to date, which now puts a target on the Bulldogs’ backs.
“Seeing my team—two seniors and the rest are youngsters—really stepping up and being flexible and adjusting to things it’s exciting. I definitely couldn’t predict it. I’m glad that they work hard consistently.”
In the next two weeks, Sobrato will play all three teams vying to knock it off of first place and all three will be on the road.
And mixed in is a home game against Andrew Hill on Jan. 31 that could be a trap game if the Bulldogs get too caught up on the following week’s slate of games and takes the league’s last place team for granted.
“We’ve got to pay attention to the next game. We can’t think ahead because then we’re just going to lose track of where we are now. No matter who is in front of us, no matter who we’re playing, we’ve got to play 100 percent no matter what. We can’t have down time because if we have a lull we can’t get out of it.”
Live Oak, meanwhile, is in a tie for fifth place with Pioneer as the Acorns gear up to start their second half run.
The Acorns are one off the pace for second and two off for first, meaning Live Oak is going to need some help from other teams if it hopes to shock the South Division and take over the
league lead.
Live Oak hosted Oak Grove Wednesday night to finish out the first half of league play and will kick off the second half at Santa Teresa
7 p.m. Friday.
“We have a tough division,” Kiefer said. “You have to bring it every night and get after it. If you don’t, then anything can happen. What’s awesome is everyone can beat everyone and they’re realizing that.”
