After leading from the opening tip, the Sobrato High girls basketball team saw Gunderson High roar back to make it 36-36 entering the fourth quarter. With first place in the Blossom Valley League’s Mount Hamilton Division on the line, Bulldogs junior Kianna Maldia knew this was a make or break moment for the team.
“The main focus going into the fourth quarter was tightening up our defense,” the point guard said. “It was an intense game, and we needed to get back and control the tempo and pace to win it. Whoever could stick it out through the tough times was going to win it.”
That turned out to be Sobrato, which took a giant step toward winning the division with a 46-39 home win on Jan. 31. With the victory, the Bulldogs improved to 5-0 in division play, dealing Gunderson (4-1) its first league loss in the process. Bulldogs post Trezure Tu’ua had a game-high 15 points, and was the recipient of several nifty passes from Maldia, who finished with 11 points and a game-best six assists.
Maldia has a certain flair to her game, as she possesses a hesitation move in which she takes a step back off the dribble to make it look like she’s backing up or stopping, only to shift gears in an instant and drive to the basket.
“It’s a good move to have, because you need some kind of pause just to get the defense off balance,” she said.
Maldia developed her moves playing against her two brothers, Kristian and Keith. Kristian is a 2014 Sobrato High graduate and Keith is a sophomore on the boys basketball team. The siblings spent many days at their neighborhood park playing against each other, although at first Kianna and Keith served as retrievers for Kristian.
“He would ask us to go to the park and rebound for him. One thing I hated is he always made us rebound 30 to 100 shots and then we’d have to leave,” Kianna said laughing. “I was like, ‘That’s it? Keith and I didn’t get to take any shots.’”
As Kianna and Keith got older, they teamed up and try to beat Kristian in a 2-on-1 game, to no avail.
“He would always beat us,” Kianna said. “It wouldn’t happen now, but back then we hadn’t yet fully developed. Kristian was great. When Keith and I played 1-on-1, he would be coaching us on the side telling us what to do. … Kristian started it all. If he didn’t stop skateboarding in middle school (before taking up basketball), I probably wouldn’t be playing today.”
Sobrato coach Erica Wallace said Maldia means everything to the team, noting her heads-up play, dynamic ability and penchant for making plays.
“Kianna is the key to our energy and flow,” Wallace said. “She’s our QB and can read the defense really well. She’s got a high basketball IQ, and at times she shouts things during the flow of play that are going to happen two or three moves ahead of when it actually happens.”
Even in the crucial game against Gunderson, Wallace rarely called out plays, as Maldia had prepared with the coach on the game plan leading up to the contest.
“We do a lot of game planning before the game,” Wallace said. “We watch game film and break down scouting reports, so it’s already been discussed for days on what we want to do and where we want to attack. She’s an extension of myself and the coaching staff on the court. When Kianna was a freshman, I let her know I wanted her to eventually take over as the point guard and QB so that I didn’t have to call everything out for the team. With her athleticism and natural ability, it is really a blessing to have her on the team. She does something that amazes me in every game, and she knows how to use her speed. She’s a great player—irreplaceable.”
Maldia’s skills were on full display against Gunderson. Late in the third quarter, she drove to the basket and drew three defenders to her. Once that happened, Maldia swung a no-look pass to Tu’ua, who made an uncontested layup.
“We’ve been preparing for this game for a while,” Maldia said. “So it was nice we finished the game strong.”
Said Wallace: “I’m happy the team stepped up and played with the physicality necessary in a very intense game.”
The turning point in Maldia’s career came during last year’s postseason, when she felt fully immersed in the sport. She credited playing with her AAU team and then-Sobrato assistant coach Anna Harp for helping her develop an even greater knowledge and appreciation for the game. Maldia plays with confidence and a conviction that she is going to find a way to make a play even when it seems like there is no play to be made.
“In my freshman year my confidence kind of dropped,” she said. “I couldn’t find myself and didn’t know what I could do. After my sophomore year, everything changed.”
It shows.
