Basketball seniors Kim Schmelz and Sasa Vuksanovic are the first 2021 winners of the UH Hilo Pepsi Athletes of the Week Award.

Kim Schmelz played a big role in UH Hilo's upset attempt of No. 4 nationally ranked Hawai`i Pacific on Sunday. Schmelz had 27 points in a game where her three-pointer with six minutes left gave the Vulcans a 50-47 lead on the three-time defending PacWest champions. The Sharks would pull away but the super senior would finish with her highest point total since the 2016-17 season, hitting 11 of 19 shots from the field. For the weekend, she had 35 total points and seven rebounds. The Sacramento native now has 908 career points, third on the Vulcan all-time list.

Versatile senior post Sasa Vuksanovic was too much to handle for Hawaii Pacific during a pair of Vulcan wins at home to open up the 2020-21 season. In the opener, the Serbia native had a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds in the 79-71 win. In just 20 minutes of action on Sunday (foul trouble), he added 12 points and seven boards for a weekend total of 31 points, 19 rebounds and three assists. Additionally, he held 6-11 counterpart Chidozie Ndu to a total of eight points and nine rebounds in the two games.

The Vulcans will hit the books this week and then get ready for January 30-31 games in Honolulu against Chaminade.