She’s crafty, this lefty playmaker.
Julissa Bollinger did a little of everything for Radford, including scoring on the block with a quick lefty jump hook off the glass over and over. Mililani had no solution for Bollinger and fellow senior Jirah Villanueva as Radford pulled away for a 56-45 win on Friday night at James Alegre Gymnasium.
Bollinger finished with 22 points and Villanueva had 16 for Radford (5-1, 1-0 OIA West).
“Definitely, Coach Dubz (assistant Allen Fortson) helped me a lot. I’m an aggressive player. I love contact. I love to get to the rim and that’s an easy spot (the left block) to go to,” Bollinger said. “Coach has been working with me on finishing moves.”
Shanntay Stroman chipped in 10 points and Kourtney Smith provided some big-time rebounding down the stretch.
Shania Wilson had 17 points for a gritty, athletic Mililani squad (3-8, 1-1). The Lady Trojans were explosive off the dribble against Radford’s man defense, but didn’t finish often enough in the paint. Their nonconference schedule was tough, and they competed hard in a physical matchup with Radford. The next time they face the Rams, the Trojans will have a better feel for defending Radford’s playmakers.
“(Bollinger) is tough. Real strong, crafty. Just can’t stop her. Can only contain her. Jirah hit three early ones. Great shooters, great shooting. Charles is a great coach,” Mililani coach Kyle Kurasaki said. “We fought. We fought to the end, even if we’re down 10 with two seconds left, we’re still fighting. We’re still young. Great learning experience. Radford’s a tough team. We got lots to work on. Every day better.”
“Mililani is always fundamental. They play hard. They’re organized. They’re disciplined. They play to their strengths,” Radford coach Charles Chong said. “You cannot make mistakes against Mililani. They make you pay. They played a good game. We had to make adjustments at halftime because they were getting easy buckets. They were running flex, which we haven’t seen this year.”
It was a key early-season win for Radford in the OIA West.
“I told them, when you play good teams like this, you have to play like warriors. Julissa and Jirah, our seniors in general, I think they did a really good job. Julissa stepped up. She was huge for us tonight on both ends of the court,” Chong said. “Jirah did a great job of taking care of the ball, hitting some big shots, handling their pressure. I’m real proud of the team, the role players coming off the bench and contributing.”
Radford’s next ame is on the road against defending OIA champion Campbell on Wednesday. Mililani will host Waipahu next Friday.
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