Box Score ST. GEORGE, Utah – In the eight-year history of Chaminade University women's basketball, the program has never won a game on the Mainland. They came agonizingly close on Saturday, dropping a 73-68 decision to Dixie State at the Burns Arena.
Kennedi Akana scored a career-high 22 points for the Silverswords while
Lilia Maio notched her fourth double-double this season with a 19-point, 12-rebound performance.
The Silverswords (3-19 overall, 3-13 Pacific West Conference) had a 62-59 lead on Akana's 3-point play with 3:37 left in the game. But the 'Swords could not get a defensive stop when they needed one as the Red Storm went on an 8-0 run on three consecutive buckets from three different players and a pair of free throws by Dixie State's Haley Holmestead, part of her 35-point outburst on the evening.
Chaminade managed to close to within 3 on three different occasions in the game's final 90 seconds, but still could not come up with a stop. The Red Storm scored either a field goal or free throw on their last nine possessions of the game.
Despite the setback, the 'Swords remain 2 ½ games out of the chase for the sixth and final berth for the PacWest Tournament in March with four games remaining, all at home. Chaminade also owns the tiebreaker over Hawai'i-Hilo, which currently has the No. 6 spot, due to the Silverswords' head-to-head sweep of the Vulcans earlier this season.
The 'Swords off-set a poor shooting first half by hitting 59 percent of their second-half shots (13-of-22). Chaminade also tied a season-high with 10 3-pointers, three each from Maio and
Sabrina Angle.
Angle, the sophomore from Pearl City, O'ahu, has made 11 3-pointers in her last three games after hitting only four in her previous six contests.
Dixie State was held to 40 percent shooting on the night, but it out-rebounded Chaminade, 48-27, and held a 18-of-20 advantage from the foul line as the 'Swords were only 8-of-9.
The Silverswords returns to McCabe Gym for their final home stand on Thursday when they host Notre Dame de Namur at 5 p.m. Streaming audio of the game will be available on goswords.com.
