By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

SAIPAN International School lost all three of the games it played against Mt. Carmel School in the regular season, but delivered in the most crucial match stunning the favored Knights in the winner-take-all finals in the Coalition of Private Schools high school basketball tournament last Friday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gym.
The Lady Geckos nailed a 44-31 victory to defend the girls’ championship in the annual tournament.
The trio of Madison Smith, Lena Guzman and Melissa Halaby helped the Lady Geckoes down the once mighty Lady Knights, who entered the do-or-die championship match unbeaten in 10 games.
Since all of Mt. Carmel’s victories against SIS were close ones, it was not surprising that the finalists battled neck and neck. But only in the first half, as a rally in the last 2:50 of the third quarter helped the Lady Geckos pull away.
The first quarter ended with SIS up by a deuce, 9-7. At halftime, Lady Knights tied the match, 14-all.
The game was still close in the third period until Halaby, Smith and Guzman took charge working extra hard on defense, grabbing rebounds and attacking the basket aggressively.
After a 20-19 lead with 2:50 left in the third period, the Lady Geckos had a 9-0 windup to take a 29-19 advantage, entering the fourth quarter.
Halaby’s first free throw gave the Lady Geckos a two-point lead, 21-19. She missed her second charity, but Guzman was there to collar the offensive rebound and made an undergoal shot for SIS’s 23-19 advantage.
The Lady Geckos’ defense prevented the Knights from orchestrating their dreaded fastbreak game in the next offensive sets, while Halaby hit two more free throws and a coast-to-coast layup to give SIS a 27-19 lead.
Smith made it a 10-point lead, 29-19, as she drilled an undergoal stab off an offensive rebound.
The Lady Knights misfortunes continued in the early minutes of the fourth period, while Halaby and Smith delivered anew for SIS.
Smith opened the fourth period with another layup, while Halaby, bravely attacking a phalanx of Lady Knights’ defenders, hit two of her four free throws upping SIS’s lead to 14-, 33-19, with 6: 40 left on the clock.
The burly Noelle Calvo, who had a hard time muscling her way inside with the lanky Smith patrolling the shaded lane, temporarily stopped the bleeding for Mt. Carmel completing a 3-point play.
The Knights threatened to come back with Hirralyn Castro and Nikki Lebria hitting a basket apiece in the next plays moving their team within six, 27-33, with 5:36 left on the clock.
The Lady Geckos suffered a big blow when Halaby was called for her fifth and last foul as she was caught reaching in against Lebria.
Halaby left the court with 4:57 remaining in the game leaving a worried coach Rob Epley.
But Smith and Guzman made Epley forget his worries, as they provided stability for the Lady Geckos foiling the Lady Knights’ comeback.
With Smith and Guzman attacking the basket, they drew fouls from Mt. Carmel and made four charities to give SIS a 37-27 lead, going into the last three minutes of the match.
Mt. Carmel also drew a lot of fouls on their way to the basket, but muffed their free throws.
Takai missed two charities, while Calvo was 0-for-6 in her three trips to the 15-foot line.
The Lady Geckos increased their lead to 12, 39-27, after a Guzman layup. Credit half of the basket to Smith, who picked a MCS player’s pocket and threw a baseball pass to Guzman for an easy layup.
Mt. Carmel sued for time to restore order to the Lady Knights’ game, but to no avail as Takai missed two free throws.
The Lady Knights grabbed the offensive rebound, a rare occasion as they were completely outrebounded by SIS, but failed to score as Smith was there to block Felisha Brum.
Smith then threw another long pass to Guzman, who made her second layup giving the Lady Geckos a 41-27 lead, entering the final two minutes of the game.
The Lady Geckos and their supporters spent the last two minutes of the match celebrating their successful title defense.