The Cranston East girls’ basketball team outscored Tiverton 34-7 in the second half to cruise past the Tigers, 53-21, to stay unbeaten in Division II.

Sophomore center Maia Caito nearly outscored Tiverton by herself with 19 points and eight rebounds, while junior guard Sarah Coutu had 12 points, four rebounds and seven steals.

The 6-foot-2 Caito could not be stopped by the Tigers after she got into a rhythm. Tiverton did not have the height to match Caito, and on three separate occasions she was awarded a 3-point play as she was fed the ball inside, scored and fouled in the process.

“To Maia’s credit, she is double-teamed every single game,” East head coach Lloyd Bochner said.

This dominance led to Caito notching 13 of East’s 19 first-half points, but otherwise sloppy ball control and errant shots hindered the ’Bolts from putting the game away earlier. The Tigers were able to keep pace behind six first-half points from leading scorer Katie Phillips, and four each from Amber Silva and Haley Mendoza.

Coutu had five in the opening half, while the only other East points came from a Kyla DePina free throw.

“We just played five really good games in a row, and we were due for a little bit of a letdown,” Bochner said. “We just weren’t moving as fast. We just didn’t come out with intensity and we should have. We’re going to have some bad stretches, and I said to the kids, ‘How are you going to handle adversity?’”

The ’Bolts used that adversity, and got on a roll after the break.

Eight different East players landed on the scoresheet, and the Tigers (3-6) struggled to generate offense after the ’Bolts’ defense steadily improved. Following Heidi Kiser’s field goal to cut East’s lead down to 23-16, the ’Bolts ripped off 14 straight points to put the game out of reach.

“The second half, to their credit, we played like the team we’ve been playing [like],” Bochner said. “We trapped harder, we moved harder, we rotated quicker, and then offensively we started to become unselfish. Second half is more indicative of how we’ve been playing.”

Junior guard McKenzie Richards and Coutu each added shots from beyond the arc, and DePina and Caito also contributed buckets during that stretch. Richards scored all nine of her points in the second half.

“We can be a high-octane type of team, and that’s what I’m hoping,” Bochner said. “I’m hoping to see a score like [53-21] every game.”

East (9-0) held the Tigers to just three successful shots in the second half and only allowed them to reach the free throw line for two attempts. The ’Bolts made 13 field goals in the second while also going 5-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Bochner pulled most of his starters with several minutes to go, allowing bench players to get some game action on the court. Shayna Cousineau had five points off the bench and Chantal Duran had one point with four rebounds and a block.

Starter Tatyana Correia, despite not logging a point, added seven rebounds for East, the second-most on the afternoon.

“She couldn’t care less if she scores, but I guarantee you she’s averaging 10 rebounds a game,” Bochner said. “[She’s] just a kid who’s a complimentary player, who helps out in such a huge way. You need everything.”

The ’Bolts looked to remain undefeated when they took on West Warwick (2-6) in a road game on Wednesday night, but results were unavailable at press time. A tough Friday matchup at home against Chariho (7-1) at 7 p.m. looms as well

“It’s something that they’re going to have to learn how to handle,” Bochner said of playing with an unblemished record. “Teams are definitely coming in, we’ve got the target, and I think it’s good to be the hunted instead of the hunter for a change. We were 2-21 two years ago and this is nice and they’ve earned it, and it’s still new for us. We learned how to win last year, and now we’re learning how to go to the next level. They have high aspirations.”