HILO, Hawai`i—Freshman Sharlei Graham-Bernisto had a career high 17 points while she and her Vulcan teammates hit 10 of 12 free throws in the final three minutes to hold off the BYU-Hawaii Seasiders on Saturday night at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, 65-55.

UH Hilo improved to 6-9 in the Pacific West Conference with the win and they are now 7-12 overall. BYU-Hawaii fell to 5-11 in the PacWest and they are now 8-14 overall.

Graham-Bernisto nailed 11 of 14 shots from the free throw line, including 6-for-6 marksmanship in the final two minutes. Asia Smith converted five of her six charity tosses during same time frame to hold BYU-H at bay. The Vulcans hit 27 of 35 free throws in the game (78 percent).

The two teams traded baskets at a normal pace in the first quarter, with neither team leading by more than four points. Lauren Hong's free throws right before the end of the quarter made it 15-15 at the break.

The second period turned into a defensive struggle, except for UHH's Graham-Bernisto. The freshman came off the bench and hit two three-pointers and buried a pair of free throws to account for eight of Hilo's 14 points in the second period. Meanwhile, the Vulcans held the Seasiders to seven points in the quarter to take a 29-22 lead at intermission.

The Vulans opened up the third quarter with a Kim Schmelz three-pointer to take a 32-23 lead and later pushed it to 15 points on another Schmelz trey (42-27). With 1:16 to go in the quarter, UHH led 46-35, but the Seasiders then began to roar back.

A Safia Sheikh trey and a Taryn Sheikh shot at the buzzer made it 46-40 at the end of the third period. Mata Tonga scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, and all of a sudden the Seasiders were only down four digits (46-42).

But Smith and Alexa Jacobs answered with buckets to push the lead back to eight. The Seasiders would climb to within four points one more time on two free throws by Safia Sheikh (53-49) with 3:34 remaining, but that would be as close as they would get. Then the free throw parade began.

Schmelz chipped in 12 points for the Vulcans, who won their second game in a row. Sydney Mercer had 11 and seven rebounds, and Smith was oh-so-close to a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.

Tyvette White led BYU-H with 12 points. The Seasiders were playing in the Civic Auditorium for the final time, as BYU-Hawaii will be eliminating athletics at the end of the school year.

UH Hilo will play its final home of the 2016-17 season on Thursday, when the y host Dixie State. UHH's six seniors will be honored before the game.