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Sandy • Juan Diego basketball players Monique and Dominique Mills are just about like any normal teenagers. Shy and quiet around strangers, the 5-foot-10-inch forwards prefer to let their games do the talking.

Throw out a topic like who's better at what, though, and suddenly the room lights up.

"Our games are pretty similar, but Dominique doesn't have a jump shot like I do," said Monique Mills.

Younger by one minute, Dominique Mills begrudgingly gives her older sister the nod.

"Her shot's a little better but I'm better at posting up and playing defense," she said.

It's no coincidence that the Mills twins are playing basketball. Their father, Silas Mills, starred at Utah State in the 1990s before playing professionally overseas.

Silas and wife Nicole have watched their daughters' competitiveness grow since the girls started playing soccer at age 5. When they went out for volleyball for the first time last fall, Nicole Mills fully grasped how competitive her daughters were with each other.

"One week one of the girls would start and the other would practice harder so she could get ahead of her sister," said Nicole. "The next week the other would push and they both ended up playing some varsity by the end of the year."

When Soaring Eagle basketball coach Natalie Williams first got a look at the twins, she knew immediately the caliber of athletes she had on her hands.

"The girls are extremely quick and long, and I've seen them get from the 3-point line to the basket in one dribble," said Williams. "They're really sweet girls, but when they get on the court they have that killer instinct. … They don't want to get beat and they attack, and that's something that's hard to teach."

That competitiveness was challenged last week when the 16-3 Soaring Eagle faced must-wins at Judge Memorial and at home against Wasatch. While the twins scored a combined 16 against Judge, junior Lancee Whetman scored 19 as Juan Diego avenged its only region loss with a 47-44 win.

Three nights later, Monique scored 18, but Dominique hit her first 3-pointer of the season and finished the night with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

"I think the second time against Judge, we just wanted it a little more," said Monique Mills. "We played hard defense and we played as a team; it was fun."

Averaging a combined 22.5 points per game to go along with double-digit rebounds, their greatest attribute is probably that innate connection that only twins have.

"I've been playing with her my whole life and even if I can't see her I know exactly where she is," said Dominique.

As Juan Diego attempts to put a lock on its Region 10 title this week, another certainty is that a very proud papa will be there.

"Watching them play is almost like an out-of-body experience," said Silas Mills. "It's fun to see them get to do something you loved to do. What parent wouldn't be happy?" —

Double trouble

Juan Diego's freshman twins, Dominique and Monique Mills, have been a big part of the Soaring Eagle's resurgence this season. They combine to average more than 22 points per game.

The twins nearly went to Judge Memorial. But their parents, Nicole and Silas Mills, were swayed to Juan Diego when former Utah Starzz great Natalie Williams was hired as coach.

The Soaring Eagle are not just a two-woman show. Sophomore Alexa Mortenson is the team leader in 3-pointers made with 19. Lancee Whetman and Julia Colosimo also are big contributors.