LAIE, Hawai`i—It was so close, yet so far away for the Hawai`i Hilo Vulcans women's basketball team in their 2016-17 season opener at the Seasider Tournament on Friday afternoon.

The Vuls fell to Cal State Dominguez Hills, 72-62, but the game was much closer than the score would indicate. The result in the tournament opener hosted by BYU-Hawaii means UHH is 0-1 on the season, while the Toros improved to 2-2.

In her Hawai`i Hilo debut, 6-0 post Asia Smith had 17 rebounds and 11 points. Sydney Mercer had 19 points to lead all scorers, Kim Schmelz added 14 and Patience Taylor pulled down 12 boards.

"It was disappointing to lose, but I thought we did some good things," said head coach David Kaneshiro. "We hung in there and gave ourselves a chance to win."

Hawai`i Hilo was within one point of the defending CCAA co-champs with 2:43 left after a Smith rebound basket (60-59). But a three-pointer by CSUDH's Simone Thompson moments later pushed the Toro lead to five points, and the Vulcans didn't convert a field goal the rest of the night. The Toros then converted foul shots to account for the final 10-point margin.

CS Dominguez Hills scored 25 points in the fourth quarter, but the game began much slower than that for both teams.

The score was 2-2 over half way through the first quarter as both teams looked to find their offense. CSUDH found theirs first, going on an 8-0 run to take the first quarter lead, 14-8. The second quarter was the polar opposite, as the Vulcans began the period on an 8-2 run, followed by a 10-0 run by the Toros to give them the largest lead of the night (31-20).

But UHH battled back to cut the halftime margin to five points (35-30) during a quarter that saw UHH put up 22 points and CSUDH 21.

The third quarter was played fairly even, with the Toros maintaining a 47-43 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

Smith banked in a lay-up with 5:53 left to pull the Vuls to within a basket (53-51) and Mercer's three-pointer kept it a two-point game a few moments later (56-54). Another trey by Mercer with 3:33 left made the count 59-57, still a one possession game.

But the Vuls could never get closer than the one-point deficit after Smith's basket with under three minutes to play. The three-time defending CCAA champs went to the free throw line and sealed the count.

UHH had 22 turnovers in the contest, 15 of them in the first half. CSUDH won the board battle (49-43), while both teams were cool from the field at 35 percent. Imari Brown and Jocelyn Diaz led the Toros with 16 points each.

The Vulcans will play at 3 p.m. again on Saturday, taking on unbeaten Central Washington (3-0).