LAIE, Hawai`i—The Hawaii Hilo women's basketball team ran into an angry Central Washington squad on Saturday afternoon and suffered their wrath, falling 48-32 to the Wildcats at the Seasider Tournament, hosted by BYU-Hawaii.

Central Washington, who came into the tournament undefeated before being upset by the host Seasiders on Friday, improved to 4-1 on the season. The Vulcans dropped to 0-2.

UHH was led by Asia Smith's nine points. 5-3 freshman guard Sharlei Graham-Bernisto added seven points and nine rebounds, while Vanessa Mancera chipped in seven counters. The Vulcans played the game without last year's leading scorer Kim Schmelz, who hurt her ankle last night against Cal State Dominguez Hills.

"It was a pretty tough, physical game," said Vulcan head coach David Kaneshiro. "We did some good things defensively but struggled offensively all night."

Central Washington led throughout the contest, although the Vulcans played them tight in the first quarter.

The Wildcats, picked to finish seventh in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, began the game on an 8-2 blitz, but a basket by Graham-Bernisto and a trey by Sydney Mercer pulled the Vulcans to within one point at the end of the first quarter (8-7).

But CWU began the second stanza on an 8-0 run and they would never trail after that. A pair of three-pointers by Beverly Verduin fueled the blitz and the Wildcats would take the momentum and a 23-15 lead into the locker room at the half. UHH hurt themselves with 14 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and they also shot only 26 percent from the floor.
Central pushed their lead to 17 points midway through the third quarter (34-17), which would be their largest lead of the game. The teams played evenly in the fourth quarter but it was too late for UHH to cut into the double-digit Wildcat margin.

The Vuls were ice cold on a warm afternoon, hitting just 22 percent from the field. They converted only two of 14 three-point attempts and 10 of 18 free throw chances. The Wildcats won the battle of the boards, 41-31. UHH cleaned up play in the second half with just seven turnovers, finishing with 21 for the game.

"We need to take better care of the ball," Kaneshiro added. "But I like how hard we played and I thought we showed some mental toughness. I am looking forward to a few weeks of practice and to get things turned around in time for our conference opener."

Hawai`i Hilo will get Thanksgiving break off, not returning to the court until they open Pacific West Conference play on November 30 at Chaminade (5 pm).