OAKLAND, Calif.—Deadly free throw shooting and clutch defense in the final two minutes helped give the UH Hilo women's basketball team a 69-56 win over Holy Names on Thursday night at Tobin Gymnasium.

The Vulcans converted 19 of 23 free throw opportunities on the night and held Holy Names scoreless over the final two minutes of the game to secure the victory. It was UH Hilo's second straight win, improving their overall record to 6-5 and their Pacific West Conference record to 4-4. The Hawks dropped their fourth straight to fall to 2-16 on the year and to 1-9 in conference action.

Allie Navarette led the Vulcans with 22 points, missing just one shot from the field (6-of-7) and once from the free throw line (10-of-11). The freshman also had nine rebounds.
Safia Sheikh added 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Danielle Dacosta put 17 points in the books as well.

The Vulcans, who trailed for almost all of the first half, outscored the Hawks 23-12 in the fourth quarter.

UH Hilo took early 12-7 and 14-9 leads in the first quarter, but Holy Names went on a 9-0 run to close out the period (18-14). They would lead the rest of the first half, by as many as seven (23-16), although the Vulcans would close the gap to just one digit three different times, including right before the halftime buzzer after a Sara Shimizu steal and eight-foot jumper.

That made the halftime count 33-32, with Sheikh and Navarette leading the way through the first 20 minutes with ten points each.

To open the third quarter, the Hawks scored the first five points to take a 38-32 margin, but the tandem of Navarette and Dacosta led the Vulcans on a 12-2 run to take a 46-41 lead. HNU cut the deficit to two points at the break (46-44), but UH Hilo had the lead again for the first time since early in the contest. Navarette and Dacosta accounted for all of UH Hilo's points in the quarter with seven each.

In the fourth quarter, the Hawks tied the game at 46-46 right out of the break, but a field goal by Sheikh and free throws by Dacosta gave the lead back to the Vulcans and they would never trail again. They moved out to a nine-point lead (60-51) after a Sheikh trey with three minutes remaining.

The Hawks scored their final basket of the game with two minutes left (60-56). The Vulcan defense had two steals and forced a shot clock violation in the final two minutes to keep HNU off the scoreboard, while Navarette (2-for-2) and Shimizu (7-for-8) made good on free throw opportunities to seal the win.

Kaleigh Taylor led the Hawks with 15 points and eight rebounds.

The Vulcans will wrap up this four-game road trip on Saturday with a 2 p.m. (Pacific time) contest at Dominican.