Box Score HILO, Hawai'i – A young Chaminade University women's basketball squad picked to finish dead last in the Pacific West Conference when the season began is growing up.
Glacen Florita poured in a career-high 25 points while the Silverswords hit 10 3-pointers and took advantage of an opponent-low shooting percentage to upset Hawai'i-Hilo, 74-57, in a PacWest game Friday in Hilo, Hawai'i.
The wire-to-wire win snapped a 5-game losing streak for the 'Swords, who improved to 3-16 overall and 3-10 in the conference. The Vulcans fell to 6-11 overall and 5-8 in the PacWest.
Despite having numerous players in foul trouble throughout, Chaminade's defense also held UH-Hilo to only 12 made field goals and 24 percent shooting from the floor, both opponent lows since women's basketball was added to CUH intercollegiate athletics in 2006-07.
The 10 made triples by Chaminade, a season-high, is the tied for third-most in school history. The Silverswords were 52.6 percent (10-of-19) from beyond the arc.
The 'Swords took both games against the Vulcans this season, the first series sweep of a PacWest opponent, as well as their first win on the Big Island, since their inaugural season. The 17-point margin of victory is also the largest in program history, eclipsing the previous record of 12 set in January 2011 against Dominican University of California.
"We put two halves together and made shots," Silverswords head coach
Bobby Keanini said. "We had a lot of contributions to this win as we were in foul trouble with
Lilia Maio,
Kristle Henry and
Kennedi Akana, but we did a lot of things correctly."
"It was a really good win for us, especially going on the road now," said Florita, who also had eight rebounds while making 7-of-12 from the floor and three 3-pointers. "We did all the right things we had to do and we finally put two good halves together.
"We're all really happy with the win."
The 'Swords set the tempo of the game early, jumping out to a 13-5 lead in the game's first five minutes on a pair of Florita jumpers, two
Sabrina Angle 3-pointers and a Henry trey. Chaminade's lead grew as many as 12 at 24-12 with seven minutes left in the half after Florita and Henry each hit 3-balls, making its first six shots from beyond long range.
One storyline was Chaminade knocking down 7-of-8 from 3-point range at the half as CUH held a 38-26 advantage. The 'Swords defense was another part, holding the Vulcans to without a field goal during a 6-minute span late in the first half.
Florita had 12 points at the half while Henry had all 11 of her points at the break. Chaminade held UH-Hilo to only 5-of-19 shots from the floor.
The 3-point barrage continued for the 'Swords as Maio nailed a pair of triples to open the second half. Florita's third 3-pointer of the game gave Chaminade its largest lead of the contest at 52-31 with 13:29 left in the game.
However, the 'Swords went cold down the stretch and the Vulcans went on an 8-0 run, all on free throws, to cut the deficit to 11 with two minutes left. But the Silverswords hit 9-of-10 foul shots, including 6-of-6 from Florita, to put the game away.
Chaminade shot 35.8 percent from the floor (19-of-53) and outrebounded UH-Hilo, 43-42. The game saw 54 combined fouls with the Silverswords having three players (Maio, Henry and
Hanna Curtius) foul out. The Vulcans converted 32-of-45 from the charity stripe while the 'Swords were 26-of-33.
"We were fortunate that Hilo had a tough night shooting and that helped, but we did play well," Keanini said.
Chaminade remains on the road as it returns to the Mainland to face Point Loma in San Diego on Tuesday.
