HILO, Hawai'i – Hawai'i Hilo Women's Basketball fell to UH Manoa, 69-50, Sunday afternoon in a season-opening exhibition at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
It was a close opening period of play with the Vulcans down just by one point after 10 minutes, but the Division-I Rainbow Wahine managed to put through 17 points in the final six minutes of the first half as UH Manoa outscored Hawai'i Hilo 21-2 in the second quarter. Hawai'i Hilo outscored UH Manoa, 23-14, in the third period, but it ultimately wouldn't be enough to overcome 2023-24 Big West Conference Regular Season Champions.
"The first game, you just never know," 15th-year Vulcans head coach David Kaneshiro said. "We weren't good offensively in the first half. A lot of the things we were working on just weren't good, but I told the team I was proud of the way they fought back in the second half. We did some good things and the effort was good."
Both teams featured veteran-laden squads with seven of the Vulcans players each having logged at least 40 games of action coming into the season.
"It's a long year and they need to not just lead with their play but also their leadership as well to keep us on the right track. We're very fortunate to have people of their character to be leaders of our program," Kaneshiro said.
Starters for Hawai'i Hilo were Kaile Cruz, Caiyle Kaupu, Noelle Su'a-Godinet, Mindy Kawaha and Keirstyn Agonias.
Cruz led with 14 points as fifth-year transfer Kaupu followed with 13 points and seven rebounds. Both teams combined for 35 turnovers.
UP NEXT: Sunday, Nov. 10 at 1 PM vs HPU (Hilo, Hawai'i / Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium)
WEEKEND OF BIG ISLAND BASKETBALL
Both UH Manoa men's and women's basketball teams made the trip to Hilo for season-opening exhibitions and to help host free keiki clinics at the Pana'ewa Park Gym.
As the lone Big Island native, Sunday's matchup was a homecoming for Rainbow Wahine senior Kelsie Imai, a Waiakea High School graduate and younger sister of former Hawai'i Hilo Women's Basketball players Kirsty (08-13) and Kamie (12-14).
"They were both great to coach," Kaneshiro said. "We watched Kelsie grow up and it's great to see her do so well at Manoa — blessed to have been involved with that family for so long."
Kirsty and Kamie rank No. 5 and No. 9, respectively, in the Vulcans record books for all-time points.
This weekend's events were organized in collaboration with Kawazoe Sports and Entertainment. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Hilo Charities and Motiv8.
