For much of Monday’s 5A semifinal game against Wasatch, West senior post player Laite Latu toiled in anonymity. After a late Wasps comeback sent the game to overtime tied at 51-51, Latu came alive.
Latu shielded a Wasatch defender, allowing teammate Kylee Falatea to score the extra period’s first points. Then, Latu poke away an interior post that led to a Falatea 15-footer. Latu scored four of her 12 points in the extra period and grabbed the game winning rebound that secured the 59-56 West win.
“She absolutely came up big for us today,” Falatea said. “Our plan was their big is their best player and our big showed up and she was our best player and I’m so incredibly proud of her.”
Falatea led the Wasps with 21 points while Latu snared a team-leading nine rebounds. Tiana Fa added 13 points and five rebounds as West improved to 24-1 for the season.
“We knew Wasatch was going to be tough,” West coach Olosaa Solovi said. “We watched them all year and we watched all their film. No one has been able to pull away from them and that was our big thing going into the game, was making sure we were prepared for their toughness.”
West led at all three quarter stops and led 37-30 heading into the final period. Wasatch came storming back and closed the score to 41-39 on a Mahala Speredon three-point play. Speredon led the Wasps with 21 points and 12 rebounds and closed the gap to 47-45 midway through the final quarter.
West stretched that lead to 51-45 on a pair of made free throws from Fa and single free throws made from Jaida Lavatai and Falatea. Trailing by six with a little more than a minute remaining, Wasatch’s Filifaiesea Liava’a canned a deep 3-pointer. After a pair of missed West free throws, Wasatch’s Anna Greenwell tied it at 51 with another made 3-pointer with 35.7 seconds left.
West ran clock before Falatea missed a shot, giving Wasatch one final opportunity at a game winner in regulation. The Wasps got a good look late but didn’t get a shot off as the West defense converged to prevent the go-ahead score.
“I know this sounds kind of cliché, but the key for us is to play together,” Solovi said. “We knew they were going to make a run and we kept telling our girls the run was coming. Wasatch did a really good job at the end of regulation to tie it but right now we’re just really proud of our girls.”
The West girls came out strong and led 16-8 after the first quarter, powered by nine points from Fa.
“She is a girl that only started playing in high school,” Solovi said. “She’s overcome every hurdle and every challenge. She stepped up for us tonight and she has unlimited potential.”
Falatea opened the second period with a basket and the Panthers hit a 3-pointer to earn a 21-11 advantage. Speredon countered with a gorgeous left-hand bucket before a basket from Danielle Garner forced a timeout from the Panthers. Speredon closed the half with back-to-back buckets as the Wasps trailed 23-20 at intermission.
As the Panthers move on to the 5A semifinals, Olosaa knows his squad will need to play better.
“We didn’t do a great job of keeping them off the boards,” he said. “We are going to be in trouble if we don’t take care of that aspect of the game.”