Women's Basketball Weekly
Hawai`i Hilo Overall Record: 2-0       Hawai`i Hilo PacWest Record: 0-0
 
Vulcans Open PacWest Play With Two on Oahu, Host Sunbirds                           
Thursday, Nov. 29 @ Hawai`i Pacific (1-4), 4:30 p.m., Honolulu, Moanalua HS
Saturday, Dec. 1 @Chaminade (1-2), 1 p.m., Honolulu, McCabe Gym
Monday, Dec. 3, vs. Fresno Pacific (4-1), 5 p.m., Hilo, UHH Gymnasium
Live Stream/Live Stats at www.hiloathletics.com

Hilo Headlines: The Vulcans will tip-off the 2018-19 Pacific West Conference season this week with a pair of games against their Hawaiian rivals, and their first conference home match-up of the year. UH Hilo opens the year with defending PacWest champion Hawai`i Pacific (Thursday), Chaminade (Saturday) and Fresno Pacific (Monday).
 
Campus Fun: The Vulcans will play on campus at the UH Hilo Gymnasium on Monday, the only time all year that the team won't play a home contest at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. Start time is 5 p.m.
 
Free, Free, Free!!: From here on and forever more, all UH Hilo and Hawaii Community College students will receive free admission to all Vulcan home events. Just show your student ID, and you are in!!
 
Watch, Listen: All Vulcan home women's basketball games will be available via video stream (and Live Stats). Improved coverage, which includes audio play-by-play, through Out of the Sea Media Arts on the Vulcan website. Additionally, home games beginning in January will be broadcast on AM 670 KPUA-Hilo.
 
Strong Start: The Vulcans had the luxury of playing a pair of non-conference games at home prior to the Thanksgiving break, topping Multnomah (Oregon) twice by the scores of 74-51 and 73-54. In both games, the home team used a strong fourth quarter to pull away from the Lions. The Vulcans scored 24 points in the final period on Friday (Nov. 16) and tallied 26 points in the fourth on Saturday (Nov. 17) to seal the verdict.
 
Eight Was Just Enough: UH Hilo picked up the wins on back-to-back nights despite having only eight players in uniform. Four of UHH's 12 players on the roster are currently sidelined with injuries.
 
A Look Back: The Vulcans suffered through an injury-plagued year to finish 7-16 overall and 5-15 in the Pacific West Conference.
 
She's Back! And So is She, and She: One big bright spot last season was the play of freshman post, Allie Navarette. The 6-footer earned honorable mention All-PacWest honors, averaging a school-record 16.7 points a game. Her 383 points was also a Vulcan single-season record, as was her free throw percentage of .842. Also returning are the backcourt tandem of Alyssa Movchan and Sara Schimizu, who started 39 games between them last year. 6-0 senior Patience Taylor started 17 games last year and guard Amber Vaughn started five before her season ended with an injury. Still injured is 2016-17 PacWest honorable mention pick Kim Schmelz and freshman Mikayla Tablit (Konawaena HS).

Defending Her Turf: Allie Navarette got her 2018-19 season off to a good start by claiming the PacWest Defender of the Week honors. She had 15 defensive boards, five blocked shots and three steals in the two wins over Multnomah, and also totaled 32 points on the offensive end in the two games.

By the Numbers: Freshman Mandi Kawaha had a sparkling Vulcan debut with 16 points and five assists in the opener against the Lions…Senior guard Alyssa Movchan had 16 points and seven rebounds in the second contest versus Multnomah…Fellow guard Sara Shimizu was in double figures both nights with 10 and 14 points respectively…Freshman Maddie Beck had ten points and seven boards in game two….Chyann Gabriel had six rebounds in the opener…Malia Lee pulled down five rebounds on opening night.
 
PacWest Prognosticators: The PacWest coaches predicted Azusa Pacific to win the conference this year, with defending champ Hawai`i Pacific slated to take second. The Vulcans clock in at ninth of 12 teams.
 
Around the Loop: This weekend tips off the PacWest season for all. The Vulcans are the only unbeaten team at 2-0, while Fresno Pacific has the most non-conference wins at 4-1. Dominican's Natalie Diaz leads NCAA Division II in scoring through three games at 29 ppg.
 
Regional Rankings: The unofficial D2SIDA West Region rankings for Nov. 26 look like this: (1) Alaska Anchorage 6-0, (2) Northwest Nazarene 6-0, (3) UC San Diego 5-0, (4) Central Washington 5-0, (5) Cal Poly Pomona 3-1, (6) Concordia Ore. 4-1, (7) Simon Fraser 4-1, (8) Cal State LA 3-0, (9) Cal State San Marcos 4-1, (10) Dominican 2-1.

Sensational Sharks: Last year's PacWest champions received three first-place votes this year, picked to finish second. The Sharks 1-4 record out of the gate has as much to do with a tough schedule as anything. They opened the year with a pair of losses to good teams in the CCAA (UC San Diego and Cal State San Marcos), and then fell to Simon Fraser and No. 6 nationally ranked Alaska Anchorage. Preseason All-PacWest selection Breanna Mackenzie returns for the Sharks, but hasn't seen the court yet because of an injury. Samantha Lambrightsen (13 ppg, 7.2 reb.) has picked up the slack in her absence. HPU won both games last year versus the Vulcans, and they lead the all-time series, 26-3.
 
Silversword Sentences: Junior guard Destiny Castro, a Preseason All-PacWest pick, got off to a great start with 33 points and a buzzer-beater during a 79-77 win over Minot State. She is averaging almost 20 points a game, seven rebounds and nearly six assists as the Silverswords begin the year at 1-2. Hunter Liftee, a transfer from Central Methodist, adds 18.7 points a contest and Diamond Carter averages 14.3 and seven boards thus far. The Silverswords, who play Fresno Pacific on Thursday before the Vulcans arrive, split with UH Hilo last year. The Vulcans lead the all-time series, 22-7.
 
Sunbird Shining Moments: Fresno Pacific leads the PacWest in non-conference wins coming into their trip to Hawaii. They have impressive wins over Seattle Pacific and San Francisco State, and a one-point loss to perennial power Western Washington. They also have wins over UC Merced and Pacific Union. Jessica Malazarte leads the Sunbirds with 17.4 points per game, one of four players to average double figures thus far. Malazarte had 32 points in the win over SPU. Fresno Pacific, which will play its third game of the Hawaii trip on Monday against the Vulcans, won both games versus UHH last year and now lead the all-time series, 5-4.
 
Head Coach David Kaneshiro: Vulcan head coach David Kaneshiro enters into his ninth season as the leader of the UHH program in 2018-19. Prior to his arrival at Hilo, he was the head coach for three seasons Blackburn College (Ill.), where he twice won conference championships and in 2006 was named the St. Louis Athletic Conference co-coach of the year. He also spent two seasons as the head coach at Webster University (Mo.). He served one season as the lead assistant at Stanislaus State.