HILO, Hawai`i—Fighting hard for their playoff lives, Fresno Pacific was in no mood for an upset bid by Hawaii Hilo on Thursday night at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

The Sunbirds held off each Vulcan run, pulling away for a 73-64 victory to remain tied for the sixth and final Pacific West Conference playoff spot. Fresno Pacific is now 8-7 in conference play and 10-13 overall. The Vulcans, playing for the second straight game without second-leading scorer Safia Sheikh, dropped to 6-8 on the year and 4-7 in the PacWest. The FPU victory gave them a season sweep in the series.

Allie Navarette led the Vulcans in scoring and rebounding again with 25 points and nine boards. Danielle Dacosta added 15 points and seven rebounds, and Alyssa Movchan had 11 points and five assists. But UHH missed the long range scoring of Sheikh, one of the top shooters in the PacWest, who averages 13.4 points a game. She is out with an illness.

The Vulcans came out firing in the first quarter, building an early lead on the strength of baskets from four different players. Navarette's three-play gave the home team a 11-3 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the period, and Dacosta's conventional basket and free throw with two seconds left gave UH Hilo a 16-10 lead after the first ten minutes.

But the Sunbirds began the second period on a 14-0 run, which included a pair of three-pointers by Bree Alvarez to take a 24-16 lead. Movchan finally broke the Vulcan drought with a trey and another Dacosta three cut the lead back to four points (28-24) with two minutes left before the half.  But Alvarez bombed in another three-pointer and Cassie Pisik wrapped up the half with two free throws to give Fresno Pacific a 35-26 lead at the break.

The Vulcans made another run at the Sunbirds in the third quarter. After back-to-back buckets by Patience Taylor, UHH was within three points twice at 36-33 and 38-35. But FPU answered again with a 16-4 run to take a 56-44 lead into the fourth quarter.

UH Hilo made more brash efforts in the final quarter, pulling to within six points on a Navarette basket with five minutes left (58-52) and again at 59-53. FPU answered with a 7-2 run, but a Dacosta trey made it a six-point game again (66-60) with 1:30 left.  Sara Shimizu kept the Vulcans alive with a driving lay-up with 37 seconds left to bring the count to 69-64. Then forced to foul, the Sunbirds converted enough free throws in the final half minute to salt away the win.

Alvarez and Megan Lee led the Sunbirds with 15 points each. The Sunbirds snapped a two-game losing streak with the win.

The Vulcans will wrap up this three-game homestand on Saturday, facing third-place Dominican at 5 pm.