HILO, Hawai'i – After a quick two weeks of action-packed basketball, the Hawai'i Hilo women's basketball team will hop over to O'ahu this week to begin Pacific West Conference play with matchups against HPU and Chaminade.

The Vulcans stand at 3-2 overall and will play HPU (1-3, 1-0 PacWest) Thursday afternoon and Chaminade (0-5, 0-1 PacWest) Saturday at noon.

"We're all excited. This is PacWest Conference play," Hawai'i Hilo head coach David Kaneshiro said. "I know we'll play hard and hopefully we play well too."

Hawai'i Hilo is coming off a 72-44 loss to UMary following a two-week stretch that included five games to open the season. The Vulcans picked up wins over Multnomah — twice — and St. Edward's with a season-opening loss to Montana State Billings.

"It's still early so we're still trying to build some consistency. We'll see, but it's a good group. They come to work everyday. As a coach, I love coming to practice. I know we're going to continue to get better like we've done over the past few weeks," Kaneshiro said.

HPU started the season 1-3 overall and notched its first win this past Tuesday over Chaminade, 79-55, to open its PacWest Conference slate.

Last season, the Vulcans swept both the Sharks and Silverswords.

"HPU has been a winning team for so many years and sweeping them last year was a really great feeling so hopefully we can do that again this year," senior Mandi Kawaha said.

Chaminade has started winless at 0-5.

By The Numbers

• Mandi Kawaha ranks second in the conference with a 17.4 points-per-game average.
• Bree Olson ranks No. 1 with 7.6 defensive rebounds per game, which also ranks nationally at No. 18 in Division II. Overall, the sixth-year senior averages 9.2 rebounds per game, good for third in the PacWest.
• Mindy Kawaha's 3.4 assists per game ranks No. 8 in the conference.
• As a team, the Vulcans are ranked No. 1 in opponent field-goal percentage (.366), No. 2 steals per game (9.00), No. 2 assist/turnover ratio (1.03), No. 2 in rebounding margin (1.6), No. 3 in assists per game (14.60) and No. 3 in three-point field-goal percentage (.327).

HPU Sharks

• HPU was voted to finish No. 8 in the preseason coaches poll.
• Graduate-transfer Abby Spurgin leads the team with 22.5 points per game.
• Junior Kalina Obrey's 8.0 rebounds per game leads the team.
• Haley Masaki and Keona Loftis are tied for first in assists with 3.3 per game.
• HPU is ranked No. 3 in the conference in rebounding margin (0.5).
• Tip off is set for Thursday, Dec. 1, 4:30 p.m. at The Shark Tank (site of former Saint Francis School gym).

Chaminade Silverswords

• Chaminade was voted to finish 10th in the preseason coaches poll.
• Junior guard Olivia Crigler averages 14.8 points per game to lead the team.
• Freshman guard Juliana Losalio-Watson leads the team with 3.0 assists per game.
• Freshman guard Destiny Piekarski's 5.0 rebounds per game leads the team.
• Chaminade is ranked No. 1 in the conference with 29.4 defensive rebounds per game.
• Tip off is set for Saturday, Dec. 3, noon at McCabe Gym.