Maya and Malina Hood are both star players on the La Jolla Country Day (LJCD) girl’s basketball team. But for this set of twins, most of the similarities end there. “First of all, we don’t even look alike and second of all, I’m definitely the more outgoing twin. More loud, more bubbly,” said Maya, who stood in the spotlight this past basketball season for her scoring abilities. “She’s kind of the quiet, calm one and I’m the one that has all the energy.” While Malina may leave most of the hooting and hollering to her sister, she too has become an intangible part of a team that has been the talk of the town. Because of her quiet, calculated style, Malina was dubbed “the silent assassin” on the squad. “I don’t say much, but people say when I do talk its usually good things and when I talk people should listen to me because it’s usually something people need to hear or valuable information,” Malina said. Although they are both starters on a team that went all the way to the state semifinals, Maya has garnered more attention for averaging an eye-popping 18.7 points per game to go along with a team-high 11.9 rebounds and 3.6 steals per game. “Maya is an absolutely incredible leader. Her work ethic is off the charts,” said LJCD head coach Terri Bamford said. “She plays hard on every possession. The team respects her. She has that intangible you can’t coach — that will to win.” While it can’t always be easy to read about her sister’s talents in the papers, Malina has worked hard to mold herself into a premier player in her own right. She was the third leading scorer for the Torreys, averaging 10.2 points to go with 7.3 rebounds and a team-best 1.3 blocks per game. “Sometimes it’s hard because she’s always in the paper and whatnot for scoring points and I don’t score as much, but I usually just focus on defense. That’s what I want to be best at,” Malina said. “I don’t really try to compare myself to her because I am my own person and completely different.” A major reason LJCD went on to a 27-5 record while often dominating the competition can be attributed to the talent the Hood sisters bring to the table. Only juniors this year, they still have one more season left. “When you get those two on the court together it’s really tough to beat us,” Bamford said. “I’ve got one more year with them and then I’m going to miss them. Wow.” While many siblings have a tendency to compete against each other, the Hoods’ parents, Alan and Karen, have maintained an equal atmosphere at home. In fact, they help each other work on their weaknesses and push each other to be better. “As parents, we never treated them any different or compared them to this one or that one,” Karen Hood said. “God made them the way they are and they’re both different people. Some people try to compare and make it a competition, but we have raised these girls to be individuals.” Both sisters would like to continue playing basketball once their high school careers end. They aren’t sure which colleges they want to go to, but they would like to stay relatively close to home. And before getting into all of that, there’s still some unfinished business for these twins take care of: “We’re really excited about next year, and the plan is definitely to go all the way and win that state championship,” Karen Hood said.