This Week in Vulcan Women's Basketball
Record: 9-14 (8-11 PWC)

Three Games Remain for Vulcans, Host Sharks on Saturday                                             
Saturday, Feb. 22 vs. Hawai`i Pacific (24-1 / 19-0 PWC), 1 pm, Civic Auditorium
Thursday, Feb. 27 @ Chaminade (4-22 / 4-16 PWC), 5:30 pm, Honolulu, McCabe 
Saturday, Feb. 29 @ Hawai`i Pacific (24-1 / 19-0 PWC, 1 pm, Honolulu, Shark Tank

Trio of Island Rivalry Games to Wrap Up Season: UH Hilo will play Hawai`i Pacific twice and Chaminade to wrap up the 2019-20 campaign, beginning on Saturday afternoon with the final home game of the season versus the Sharks. Please note the daytime start time, at 1 pm at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
 
Looking Way Up: The Vulcans currently sit in seventh place in the Pacific West Conference Standings, 2.5 games behind Point Loma and the last qualifying spot for the conference tournament. So, not yet mathematically eliminated. But they would need a little help via a stumble from the Sea Lions, AND perhaps the largest task, they would have to win their final three contests, which includes two games against the team that NO ONE in the PacWest has beaten this year—Hawai`i Pacific.
 
Positive Plus: The Vulcans played four nationally ranked teams in their first four games, and then played four more squads that all had winning records during the 2019 portion of their schedule. That left them with a 1-7 record heading into the new calendar year. But 2020 meant new life for the Vulcans, and they have responded with an 8-7 record since the Christmas break. With nine season wins (9-14), they have a chance to reach double-figure win totals for the first time since the 2015-16 year when they finished 10-15, and if they can stay in seventh place or better in the PacWest, that would equal their best standing since that same year.

Senior Salute: After Saturday's game versus the Sharks, the Vulcans will honor the two seniors on their roster—Kim Schmelz and Chyann Gabriel. Schmelz (Sacramento, Calif.) is in her fifth season with the Vulcans (the Vulcans are going to apply for a sixth due to injuries) and has 852 career points. Gabriel (Hilo/Kamehameha School) is in her second season with the Vulcans after beginning her career at Everett CC in Washington.
 
Sharks and Silverswords: The Vulcans will face Hawai`i Pacific in two of their final three games. The Sharks have already put together a record-breaking season with a 24-1 record on the year, and are on the cusp of breaking several more. The Sharks already set the program record for longest winning streak at 20 as they clinched the PacWest title with a win against Point Loma. It is the earliest that any team in the PacWest has clinched the regular season title. The Sharks have done this while facing the sixth toughest strength of schedule of any team in the West Region. They opened the season with wins over No. 5 Northwest Nazarene and No. 9 Simon Fraser along with a win over Central Washington, which is just outside the top 10. Hawai`i Pacific has also beaten No. 2 UC San Diego along with season sweeps of No. 6 Azusa Pacific and No. 10 Concordia. Overall, Hawai`i Pacific is 7-0 against the top-10 teams in the West Region. This is the first meeting of the year between HPU and UHH, and the Sharks have a big edge in the all-time series, 28-3. The Vulcans and Chaminade met on Feb. 2 in Hilo, with the Vulcans claiming a 62-55 win. The Silverswords have one of the top players in the PacWest in senior guard Destiny Castro, who averages 19.2 points a game. That ranks second in the conference behind the nation's leading scorer Jerusha Paine of Dominican (25.9). Castro also leads the league in steals with 3.4 per outing. The Vulcans lead the all-time series between the two rivals, 23-9.
 
Rewriting the Record Book(s): Junior pivot Allie Navarette rewrites the UH Hilo record book almost every time she takes the court. Listed below are new records made this year in the Single Game and Career categories, along with Single-Season marks that she could reach this year.
2020 Single-Game Records
Points: 34 vs. Holy Names (tied for first)
Field Goals: 12 vs. Chaminade (tied for first)
Free Throw Percentage: 12-12 vs. Holy Names (first)
Rebounds: 19 vs. Holy Names and Notre Dame de Namur (first)
Career Records through Feb. 21 (and counting)
Points: 1,334
Rebounds: 659
Free Throws Made: 444
Blocked Shots: 53
Single-Season Record Chasing (her current number (her season record)
Points: 435 (516)
Points Per Game: 18.9 (19.8)
Field Goals: 138 (162)
Free Throws: 151 (170)
Free Throw %: .853 (.842)
Rebounds: 215 (263)
Rebound Average: 9.3 (10.1)
 
A Look at the Numbers: Kim Schmelz is second on the team in scoring with 11.5 points per game, followed by Mandi Kawaha's 9.6. Kawaha is second in rebounding (4.4) and leads in assists (77) and steals (40).
 
PacWest Numbers: Allie Navarette is a familiar name if you are reading through the top 10 lists in the Pacific West Conference stat columns. She lists third in scoring (18.9), fourth in rebounds (9.5), seventh in field goal percentage (.437), and is second in free throw percentage (.859). Mandi Kawaha is also in the top with 3.3 assists per game.

Around the PacWest: Hawai`i Pacific has already clinched the regular season title, and the first round bye that goes with it for the PacWest tournament. Azusa Pacific (14-4) has a two-game lead over Concordia (12-6) for second, with Biola (12-7), Fresno Pacific (12-8) and Point Loma (10-8) rounding out the top six.
 
Rating the West: The first official NCAA West Region poll came out today (Feb. 19), from which the top eight teams will qualify for the NCAA tournament in the final version in three weeks. (1) Hawai`i Pacific 23-1, (2) UC San Diego 20-4, (3) Alaska Anchorage 23-2, (4) Cal State San Marcos 20-4, (5) Northwest Nazarene 16-6, (6) Azusa Pacific 20-4, (7) Western Washington 15-7, (8) Cal Poly Pomona 15-9, (9) Simon Fraser 16-10, (10) Concordia CA 14-8. HPU is also ranked No. 5 nationally.

PacWest Poll: Despite definitely looking better on paper, the Vulcans didn't get much love in the Pacific West Conference Preseason poll, which looked like this. (1) Azusa Pacific, (2) Hawaii Pacific, (3) Point Loma, (4) Fresno Pacific, (5) Dominican, (6) Concordia (7), Biola, (8) Academy of Art, (9) Chaminade, (10) Hawaii Hilo, (11) Holy Names, (12) Notre Dame de Namur.

Last Year: The Vulcans finished 8-18 overall and 5-17 in the PacWest. Allie Navarette earned First Team All-PacWest honors and Second All-West Region laurels while averaging a school-record 19.8 points and 10.1 rebounds a game.

The Coach: Vulcan head coach David Kaneshiro is in his tenth season leading the Vulcan program. He previously spent four years as an assistant coach with the men's team at UHH, and has been the women's head coach at Blackburn and Webster. He also was an assistant at Stanislaus State.