HILO, Hawai`i--The UH Hilo women's basketball team already had a spot in the Pacific West Conference tournament secured over a week ago, but they showed no signs of letting up in their final regular season game of the year on Friday night.

The Vulcans scorched visiting Chaminade on Senior Night, 89-50, behind a career best shooting night for senior Sara Shimizu and a team record 17 three-pointers. The long bomb specialist drained five three-pointers in the second quarter alone and finished with eight for the game during the rout. She also had a career-high 24 points and eight rebounds.

It was a festive night for the Vulcans, who will head into the PacWest tournament next week in Fresno, Calif. with a 14-9 overall record and an 11-8 conference mark. UH Hilo is guaranteed the No. 6 seed and will play the No. 3 seed (to be determined) on Thursday at 12:30 pm PT (10:30 am HT). It is UHH's first trip to the tournament since 2014.

The Vulcans have won four of their last five games, with the only loss during that stretch a narrow 68-65 setback on the road to second-place Dominican. Coach David Kaneshiro's team has also guaranteed themselves a winning season, their first since 2012-13 when they wrapped up at 13-11. The school record for wins is 15 (15-9), set by the 2008 squad.

UH Hilo broke open a tight game (14-10) with a second quarter barrage of 27 points, their highest of the season. As a team, the Vulcans knocked down seven of ten from behind the arch to take a 41-21 lead into the halftime locker room. 

They didn't cool off at all during intermission. They would drain six more treys in the third period (6-for-9), add 26 points and dropped in four more 3's in the fourth. They clipped the previous school record for three-pointers made (14) set last year against Chaminade. For the individual trey record, Shimizu climbed past the previous mark of seven, held by Kirstie Williams (three times ) and Kim Schmelz. Shimizu's previous best for treys in a game was five, which she equaled tonight in the second quarter alone.

The 5-foot-2 guard from Sacramento also bested her previous career scoring best, which was 21 this season against Point Loma. 

Four other players were in double figures for the Vulcans, including second-year freshman Sierra Cavaletto who had a career-high 22 points. Cavaletto came off the bench to nail six three-pointers in eight attempts in just 16 minutes of play.

Others in double digits included Mandi Kawaha with 12 points (five assists), along with Jenna Waki and Bree Olson with ten points each. Waki was perfect from the field (4-for-4) and Olson had a career night with 17 rebounds, just two boards off the school record.

Oh, and for good measure, Kawaha eclipsed the 1,000 career points barrier and is third on the all-time Vulcan scoring list with 1,002. Shimizu is second in career three-pointers made with 138.

Shimizu and fellow senior Nikki Miller were honored after the game.

Chaminade fell to 1-18 on the season and to 0-15 in the PacWest. They wrap up their season on Sunday against Hawaii Pacific.