The Cranston East girls’ basketball team kept rolling Friday night, crushing Chariho 52-33 at home behind double-figure scoring from three players to remain unbeaten in Division II.

Sophomore center Maia Caito led the way for the ’Bolts (11-0), pouring in 15 points to go with eight rebounds and three blocks. Senior forward Kyla DePina added 13 while junior guard McKenzie Richards made four 3-pointers and totaled 14 points, six boards and two steals.

The Chargers, who occupy second place in Division II-South, have only lost twice this season, both times to East.

“We’ve just been working on [defense] so hard in practice,” East head coach Lloyd Bochner, whose team has allowed fewer than 35 points in five of the past six games, said. “It’s really our main focus. Offensively, we have skill, defensively, we have to play hard for 32 minutes. It’s a real challenge. We’ve been working in practice, so I’m not surprised, but I’m proud of them for that.”

Chariho (8-2) and East went back and forth early, with Tabitha King’s field goal cutting an early ’Bolts’ lead down to 1, 12-11.

After that point, East went on a 10-3 run to close out the half and take a lead the Chargers couldn’t wrestle away. Caito was fed inside for a layup to start the surge before Shayna Cousineau buried a shot to jump the lead to 5.

East kept spreading the wealth, too, as DePina and forward Tatyana Correia got in on the scoring run to up East’s advantage to 20-11. Caito finished out her eight first-half points with another easy hoop to give the ’Bolts their biggest lead of the first, 22-11.

East junior guard Sarah Coutu was held scoreless the entire game, but her defense and vision made the largest impact. Coutu chipped in seven steals, but most importantly held Chariho’s leading scorer, Kaitlyn Cuddy, to just two made field goals. Cuddy made one 3-pointer early in the first half, but was contained by Coutu for the next 25 minutes of game time.

Coutu also picked up multiple assists in each half, finding open players under the hoop with crisp passes.

“That’s what a point guard does,” Bochner said. “She can score, but she does make other people better and that’s a huge value. They’re the ones who make other people better. So, I’m not sure she realizes it yet, but without her we’re not 11-0 for sure.”

The Chargers struggled to find offense as East pulled away in the second half. The ’Bolts got four easy points to start the half on identical plays. Richards passed from the arc inside to 6-foot-4 Caito, who used her height advantage over 5-foot-8 center Sydney Davis to score effortlessly both times. Caito’s second shot put the ’Bolts ahead 26-18.

“I know I say it every time, but to Maia’s credit she’s getting double-teamed every time,” Bochner said. “So when she’s open, we have to bang it down in there. She’s a great passer, so if they double her, it’s swung back out. I thought our shot selection was very good tonight. We didn’t force it.”

From that point on, Chariho would make four shots the rest of the night. Its next make would not come until after East had already pulled ahead 35-22 off of Richards’ second 3-pointer of the night.

Dakota Morehouse brought the Chargers within 11 following a long-distance 2-pointer, but East answered right back. Caito made the back end of a pair of free throws, then, after Richards missed on a steal-and-score attempt, DePina converted on the put-back. That started a string of seven straight points for DePina, who had nine of her 13 in the second half, that would put the ’Bolts out in front, 43-26.

“She’s a senior, we need that,” Bochner said of DePina’s performance. “She’s our only senior starter, so we need her leadership. When they double Maia, that’s what opens up. Sometimes for Tatyana, sometimes for Kyla. Part of being a well-balanced team is having everybody chip in. That’s a good team we just beat.”

East found a way to score on most possessions in the second half, even when Chariho defended as well as it could. A prime example was when Richards took an inbounds pass from beyond the arc with two seconds on the shot clock and drilled a 3-pointer with a hand in her face, putting East up 20.

By the time Cuddy made her first field goal since the opening minutes, the game was well out of reach, 48-28, and East had already sent in some of its bench players. The Chargers couldn’t help themselves at the free throw line, either, as they went 7-of-18 from the charity stripe in the second half. Outside of Cuddy, they were 3-of-13.

The ’Bolts will face another test in their path to an undefeated record when they host East Greenwich (7-3) at 2 p.m. this Saturday. East previously defeated the Avengers on the road, 51-41, on Dec. 23.

“I think we feel good,” Bochner said. “The top two teams in our division are Chariho and East Greenwich. I think that the defense is turning into the offense [which] is turning into the confidence. You play both ends of the floor like that, I think that’s the key. Right now, that’s a winning formula for us. I think as they see each win go up, they’re starting to say ‘Hey, this is what works for us.’”