HILO, Hawai`i—The combination of being short-handed and playing a team fighting for its playoff life turned out to not be a great combination for the Hawai`i Hilo women's basketball team  during a 76-50 loss to Point Loma on Saturday night at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

The win for the Sea Lions improved their overall record to 12-9 and they are now an even 7-7 in the Pacific West Conference.  The Vulcans, playing without senior sharpshooter Safia Sheikh, dropped to 6-7 on the year and to 4-6 in the PacWest.

Allie Navarette, playing limited minutes after being sick all week, led UH Hilo with 19 points. Already without Kim Schmelz (2017 leading scorer) and Amber Vaughn, tonight the Vulcans were also without the PacWest's top three-pointer shooter in Sheikh.

Point Loma, who has now won three of its last four, was led by Rustamzada's 18 points. She also had eight rebounds. Stephanie Williams had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Sea Lions took an early 8-2 lead, thanks to long range and conventional three-points plays by  Rustamzada. The Vulcans then climbed with their own 6-0 run with four points from Navarette and a tying shot by Patience Taylor (8-8).  PLNU then closed the first quarter on an 8-2 run, five of those points coming from Grace Brady, to take a 16-10 margin.

The Vulcans cut the Point Loma lead to three points twice in the second quarter on a three-pointer by Danielle Dacosta and another basket by Navarette (21-18). But the Sea Lions answered with an 11-3 run to close the half to take a 32-21 lead into intermission.

Navarette had 13 of UHH's 21 points in the first 20 minutes.

Point Loma led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter (49-33) before finishing the period with a 52-39 lead. In the fourth, UH Hilo cut it to 11 points, but back-to-back treys by Sydney Peterson added to the space between the two teams. Soon, point guard Sara Shimizu would foul out, adding to UH Hilo's woes.

The Sea Lions, the co-favorite in the PacWest pre-season poll, equaled their largest lead of the game with the final 26-point margin.

Navarette, a freshman, hit 9-of-10 free throws and had six rebounds. Dacosta finished with 11 points and eight boards, while Alyssa Movchan dished four assists and had seven points. Malia Lee came off the bench to grab a career-high seven rebounds.

This was the first of a three-game homestand for UH Hilo. They will host Fresno Pacific on Feb 1 and Dominican on Feb. 3. Both games will start at 5 p.m.