HILO, Hawai'i – It was a tough go for the Vulcans shooting under 30 percent from the field as Hawai'i Hilo Women's Basketball fell to Westmont, 70-47, Saturday evening in Pacific West Conference play at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

Westmont managed to take an early edge after shooting 60.0 percent (9-15 FG) in the opening period. After both teams seemingly cooled off on finding the bottom of the net in quarter No. 2, Hawai'i Hilo put together an 8-0 run spanning nearly four minutes of game action but the Warriors responded with an 8-0 run of their own to close out of the opening half.

After splashing seven 3-pointers at a 50-percent clip two nights ago against Concordia, the Vulcans followed up with their second-best efficiency rate of the season at .353 on six long-range buckets. Both teams were nearly even at the charity stripe — 75.0 percent from the Vulcans (15-20 FT) to the Warriors' 73.9 percent (17-23 FT).

Westmont upped the defensive pressure all game long and put its size advantage to use to double up Hawai'i Hilo with a 30-14 points-in-the-paint edge, converting on 68 percent (15-22 FG) of inside shots to just 30 percent (7-23 FG) from the Vulcans.

Caiyle Kaupu and Mindy Kawaha led the Vulcans with 11 points each.

Hawai'i Hilo moved to 1-3 in PacWest play (3-7 overall) as Westmont moved to a 3-3 conference record (6-6 overall).

OTHER NOTES

• Both teams struggled from the field in the second period, combining to convert on just 18.1 percent of shot attempts (4-22 FG) but somewhat made up for it with the Warriors and Vulcans going 6 of 6 and 5 of 6 at the free throw line, respectively.
• Kaile Cruz made three 3-pointers to move to No. 8 all-time in the Vulcans program record books with a career total of 68, surpassing Alyssa Movchan (2017-2019).

UP NEXT: Rally Towel Giveaway – Thursday, Jan. 9 (5:30 PM) vs Westmont (Hilo, Hawai'i / Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium)

MCDONALD'S OF HAWAI'I: Mahalo to McDonald's of Hawai'i for supporting Hawai'i Hilo Athletics and Saturday night's Vulcans Basketball doubleheader. Attending spectators were encouraged to enter into a drawing with 10 lucky fans going home with a free meal voucher redeemable at all Big Island locations.