HILO, Hawai`i—Defending conference champion Hawai`i Pacific used stifling defense and a huge advantage all night on the offensive boards to hand host Hawai`i Hilo a 65-49 loss on Saturday afternoon at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
It was the eighth win in the last nine starts for the defending Pacific West Champion Sharks. They improved to 9-5 on the season and to 7-1 in conference play. The Vulcans dropped their fifth straight to fall to 4-8 overall and to 1-7 in the PacWest.
The Vulcans have played three of the top four teams in the PacWest in the last two weeks.
Allie Navarette led the Vulcans with 18 points despite spending most of the night in foul trouble. Breanna Mackenzie led the Sharks with 18 points as well.
The Vulcans had one lead early in the first quarter after a three-pointer by
Amber Vaughn (6-5), and trailed by just one point after an Navarette three-point play (10-9).
But the Sharks promptly reeled off 18 points in a row, keeping the Vulcans off the board for the end of the first quarter and half of the second. By the time Navarette scored with 4:20 left in the half, the Sharks had a 28-11 lead.
They would be in front 34-18 at the break, holding the Vulcans to a season-low half output. HPU had 10 offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes, and a 25-10 advantage overall.
The Vulcans found their range a bit in the third quarter, hitting a trio of treys to cut the margin to 14 points (41-27). But the Sharks answered right back and would go on to earn 48-31 lead at the lead of the third period. The Vulcans would get no closer than 15 points in the fourth quarter before the final 65-49 verdict was registered.
Navarette was the only Vulcan in double figures.
Sara Shimizu had nine points, hitting 3-of-5 treys.
Mandi Kawaha led all players with six assists.
Alysha Marcucci joined Mackenzie in double figures with 11 points. Samantha Lambrigtsen and Amy Baum had nine rebounds each to lead the visitors in that category.
UH Hilo will continue this three-game homestand with a Tuesday night game against Concordia and a Saturday contest versus Point Loma. Both games at the Civic will begin at 5 pm.
