SAN RAFAEL, California – The Vulcans were red-hot from beyond the arc in making a season-high 11 3-pointers to post the eighth-best single-game three-point shooting percentage in Division II this season as Hawai'i Hilo Women's Basketball flew past Dominican, 67-59, Wednesday evening in Pacific West Conference play at the Conlan Center.

It was an overall team effort as the Vulcans landed three-point splashes from KeanuMarie Huihui (3 of 4), Mindy Kawaha (3 of 4), Jazmine Soto (2 of 4), Caiyle Kaupu (1 of 3), Melanie Hiu (1 of 1) and Erica Ingram (1 of 1) to finish at a .647 clip for the highest percentage posted by a PacWest team this season — Hawai'i Hilo also has the second highest when it shot .571 (4 of 7) against Concordia last month. It's also the highest single-game finish by the Vulcans since shooting .600 (12 of 20) against Point Loma in Dec. 2021.

After taking a slight three-point lead into halftime, the Vulcans opened the score up as Huihui hit back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers in the early goings of the second period followed by another three-point splash by Kaupu. Still, the Penguins remained within striking distance and kept the score at a single possession through a good chunk of the fourth quarter until Hiu and Kawaha hit consecutive treys near the midway point. From there, the Vulcans went 6 of 6 at the free throw line to take a double-digit advantage and played tough defense to force Dominican to shoot just 1 of 5 from the field through the final three and a half minutes to ice the victory.

Huihui led with 23 points (8-12 FG) followed by 11 points from Kawaha and 10 from Soto.

Dominican maximized its opportunities with a season-high 13 steals by an opponent while having a 12-3 advantage in offensive boards (converting .307 on second-chance opportunities).

Hawai'i Hilo moved to 4-13 in PacWest play (6-17 overall) as Dominican moved to a 13-5 conference record (19-10 overall).

OTHER NOTES

• The Vulcans moved to No. 12 in the PacWest standings Dominican slotted in at No. 4. Point Loma is at the top at 15-2. Five of the six PacWest Championships postseason tournament berths have been claimed by PLNU, Azusa Pacific (14-4), Dominican, Westmont (12-6) and Fresno Pacific (9-10) with Biola (7-11) and HPU (5-12) still in contention.
• Former Vulcans player and coach Kim Schmelz ('15-'21) is in her first season as associate head coach with the Penguins.

UP NEXT: Saturday, Feb. 22 (10 AM / Noon PT) vs Jessup (Rocklin, California / Warrior Arena)