The Lady Thunderbolts defeated the Mt. Hope Huskies 39-31 on Saturday evening during a Girls Division II Basketball clash at Cranston High School East.

Aydan Gulliver, a junior, topped East with 10 points, while Mya Jiminez, a sophomore, chipped in nine points. Kathy Hernandez, the senior starting point guard, scored six points and assisted often to an open teammate.

“I call those my ‘Big 3’,” East head coach Jhamal Diggs said. “Kathy, Mya and Aydan, they're great players.”

“Aydan came out and executed when she needed to,” Diggs said. “Mya struggled in the beginning, but executed in the end. And Kathy just controlled the tempo. I say she's one of the best point guards in the state. She controlled the tempo and made sure she got her teammates involved and led us to the victory.”

Trinity Saab, a senior, finished third in scoring for East with eight points.

Mt. Hope sophomore Elsa White topped all scorers with 12 points, and junior Reyn Ferris had seven points, and Mia Padula, a senior, added five points.

The Huskies got the scoring started when White buried a 3-pointer from the top of the arc, two and a half minutes into the contest.

East pulled within 3-2 when Hernandez assisted inside to Gulliver for a layup.

Then, Saab sank a 3-pointer with 3:30 remaining in the quarter and gave the Lady Bolts their first lead at 5-3.

However, the Huskies held a 9-8 lead at the end of the first frame because Padula buried a corner trey during the final minute.

East drew a 12-9 lead early in the second quarter though, after Jiminez made a hook shot, and then Hernandez a layup, after a steal from Saab.

The Lady Bolts closed the second quarter with an 8-4 run and headed into halftime leading 20-13.

"The first half was a little tough," Diggs said. "A lot of missed layups, a lot of unnecessary turnovers, but at halftime we made the adjustments and we were able to come out with the win. Just growing, a lot of learning curves. A lot of learning points where we'll get better. I think this was a good game that we can watch on film and we can see what we need to work on and just get better from here. So, we came out a little bit sluggish, but definitely a game that we can use to get better."

East extended its edge to 23-13 early in the third frame when Jiminez made a free throw, and Thamia Perez, a bank shot.

The Lady Bolts increased their margin to 29-14 after Gulliver and Hernandez combined for three made free throws, and then Jiminez sank a bucket in front.

Early in the fourth frame, Saab ballooned the Lady Bolts buffer to 34-18 when she buried a baseline jumper.

Mt. Hope closed the matchup with a 13-5 run, but it was too little too late and East held on for the eight-point win.

The Lady Bolts improved to 6-3 in the division with the victory and played again on Tuesday night at Mt. Pleasant (2-6), however, that score was unavailable at press time. Next, East plays at home on Friday at 7 p.m. against North Providence/Johnston Co-op (2-7).