BELMONT, Calif. – In its ninth year of existence, the Chaminade University women's basketball team accomplished a feat it had never done before – win on the Mainland.
Lilia Maio scored a season-high 18 points and
Shana Kawakami's layup with eight seconds left off a turnover gave the Silverswords a heart-stopping 72-71 victory over Notre Dame de Namur Saturday at Walter Gleason Gym.
Down 71-70 with 11 seconds left,
Kristle Henry, the team's steals leader, made her biggest theft of the season, taking the ball away from the Argonauts' Coco Bradley. The ball went to
Katie Buskey, who in turn, got it to Kawakami for her winning layup.
The Silverswords had gone winless in 50 previous tries in contests played on the continental United States, including neutral site games, since the program's first year of existence in 2006-07.
Chaminade (2-9 overall, 2-5 Pacific West Conference) also won back-to-back games for the first time since February 21-22, 2007.
Buskey contributed to the Silverswords cause with 15 points while
Glacen Florita and
Kennedi Akana had 14 each. Buskey also had eight rebounds while Florita dished out five assists.
The Argos (3-14, 1-9 PacWest) were led by Nanea Woods' 19 points.
"As a team, we are super happy and excited about this win," Florita said. "I'm extremely proud of us and proud to be a part of this accomplishment."
Chaminade trailed through the early stages of the first half, finding itself down 20-13 at the midway point. Buskey scored five points as the 'Swords narrowed their deficit down to a point, then Maio's layup gave Chaminade its first lead at 23-22 with just under seven minutes left. Buskey's 3-pointer gave the Silverswords a 28-24 advantage, but the Argos outscored the 'Swords 12-4 to take a 36-32 halftime lead.
A Maio layup drew Chaminade to 39-37 just over a minute into the second half. A 7-0 run by the Argos gave them a 46-37 lead with 17:14 remaining. However, the next 14 minutes saw the teams trade scores as the 'Swords prevented NDNU from pulling away.
Down 71-63, Maio hit a jumper with 2:48 left that helped start the Chaminade rally. Henry hit 3-of-4 free throws to pull the Silverswords to 71-68 with 1:49 left and following an Argo's turnover, Akana's layup with 1:06 left to cut the deficit to 71-70.
The game's final minute was frantic. The 'Swords forced a turnover with 37 seconds left, but couldn't capitalize as they gave it right back. Henry then forced the biggest turnover of the game with a steal leading to Kawakami's go-ahead bucket. The Argos had one last chance, but Akana blocked Bradley's potential game-winner at the buzzer to preserve the victory.
The Silverswords shot nearly 45 percent from the floor while the Argos was at 49 percent. Chaminade was out-rebounded, 39-22, but spent considerable time on the free throw line, hitting 24-of-30. NDNU, on the other hand, was only 8-of-11. The 'Swords also forced 23 turnovers.
"We didn't give up and kept playing through everything even though we could have given up so easily," Florita said. "We stuck together as a team and had each others back. We did what we had to do when it most mattered."
The 'Swords face Academy of Art Monday in San Francisco.
