Women's Basketball Weekly
Hawai`i Hilo Overall Record: 4-7       Hawai`i Hilo PacWest Record: 1-6
 
Vulcans Back Home to Face Sharks, Eagles and Sea Lions                          
Saturday, Jan. 12 vs. Hawaii Pacific (8-5/6-1 PWC), 1 p.m., Afook-Chinen Civic
Tuesday, Jan. 15 vs. Concordia (4-9/3-5 PWC), 5 p.m., Afook-Chinen Civic
Saturday, Jan. 19, vs. Point Loma (6-9/5-4 PWC), 5 p.m., Afook-Chinen Civic
Live Stream/Live Stats at www.hiloathletics.com

Hilo Headlines: The Vulcans return to Hilo for their first home games of the 2019 calendar year, facing defending PacWest champ Hawaii Pacific (Saturday), Concordia (Tuesday) and Point Loma (Saturday). UH Hilo lost all three road games to after Christmas break, playing two of the top four teams in the conference (Dominican and Fresno Pacific), while also falling to Academy of Art.
 
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!! Same is true for faculty and staff.
 
Watch, Listen: All Vulcan home women's basketball games are available via video stream (and Live Stats). Improved coverage, which includes audio play-by-play, through Out of the Sea Media on the Vulcan website.
 
Mash Unit: The Vulcans still aren't close to full strength, with guards Kim Schmelz and Mikayla Tablit sidelined. Seniors Patience Taylor and Amber Vaughn have also missed games and practices with injuries, but both are now back in action.
 
Allie's Averages: Sophomore post Allie Navarette has scored in double figures every game except one (9 at Dominican), including posting a career-high 27 points against Chaminade and Fresno Pacific. She has four double-doubles on the year, including going for 20 points and 14 boards in her last outing at Academy of Art. The Torrance, Calif. native ranks third in the PacWest in scoring (18.0) and leads the league in rebounding (9.7). Additionally, she is seventh in the PWC in field goal percentage (.438) and is sixth in free throw accuracy (.753).
 
By the Numbers: Freshman guard Mandi Kawaha is also averaging double figure scoring numbers at 10.7 points a game. She hit for a career-high 22 against Fresno Pacific. She leads the Vulcans with 3.3 assists per game…Alyssa Movchan adds 10 points a game and scored 23 against St. Martin's. She also leads the Vulcans with two treys a game (22 total).  Freshman Maddie Beck comes off the bench to average five points a game…After Navarette, the next rebounder in line is Chyann Gabriel at 4.1 per contest.
 
Around the Loop: Conference favorite Azusa Pacific is still unbeaten in PacWest play at 9-0 (12-3 overall), holding a 1.5 game lead over Dominican (7-1). Hawaii Pacific is another half-game back at 6-2, with Fresno Pacific breathing down the Sharks' neck at 6-2.
 
Regional Rankings: The unofficial D2SIDA West Region rankings for Jan. 8 look like this: (1) Northwest Nazarene 12-0, (2) UC San Diego 12-0, (3) Alaska Anchorage 11-1, (4) Cal Poly Pomona 9-2, (5) Central Washington 8-3, (6) Dominican 9-2, (7) Western Washington 8-4, (8) Azusa Pacific 11-3, (9) Cal State San Marcos 9-3, (T-10) Simon Fraser 6-5, (T-10) Fresno Pacific 10-4. Nationally, NNU is No. 3, UCSD No. 8, and UAA is 15.

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).

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.
 
Shark Bites: Hawai`i Pacific won two of three games in northern California last week, falling only to red-hot Dominican, 77-62. Picked to finish second in the PacWest preseason poll, the defending champion Sharks are led by senior guard Samantha Lambrigtsen's 15.8 points a game and 5-11 sophomore Alysha Marcucci's 13.7 ppg. HPU won the match-up in December between the two teams in Honolulu, 69-48, and the Sharks lead the all-time series, 27-3.
 
Concordia Clippings: The Eagles saw a three-game win streak snapped on Jan. 5 with a loss to conference-leader Azusa Pacific (90-68). Prior to that they were rolling with wins over Seattle Pacific, Notre Dame de Namur and Holy Names. 6-1 sophomore center Michaela Vanderklugt leads the Eagles with 16 points and 9.6 rebounds a game. She is second in the PacWest in boards and sixth in scoring. Concordia won both games against the Vulcans last year to tie the all-time series, 2-2.
 
Sea Lion Lines: After a slow start (0-5), Point Loma has turned things around. Recently, they put together a four-game win streak, only to see it snapped by Azusa Pacific on Monday (86-72). Prior to that loss, they were 6-3 since the slow beginning (they are now 6-9). 5-7 sophomore guard Sydney Peterson paces the team with 16.5 points a game, fifth in the PacWest. Peterson also leads the conference in free throw percentage (.871) and is third in three-pointers per game (2.6). The Sea Lions won both games played between the two teams last year, and PLNU leads the all-time series, 7-2.
 
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.