HONOLULU – The Chaminade University women's basketball team returned to action for the first time in 17 days, suffering a 77-46 setback to Point Loma Saturday at McCabe Gym.
Playing in only their second game in the last 28 days, their rustiness was evident as the Silverswords were held to their lowest scoring output of the season.
Kennedi Akana scored a team-high 10 points in defeat for the Swords, who fell to 0-8 on the season and 0-4 in the Pacific West Conference.
Kristle Henry and
Shana Kawakami added eight for Chaminade while
Lilia Maio was the team leader in rebounding with seven.
Madison West led the Sea Lions (4-7 overall, 2-2 PacWest) with a game-high 15 points.
Point Loma, which led throughout the contest, established a double-digit lead over six minutes into the contest, eventually grabbing a 25-8 advantage with 9:30 left in the half. Kawakami hit a pair of 3-pointers then
Katie Buskey's layup after stealing an inbounds pass pared the deficit to 28-18 less seven minutes left before the break, giving the home team a glimmer of hope.
PLNU upped its lead to 18 in the waning minutes, but Henry and Akana each knocked down shots to reduce Chaminade's deficit to 37-23 at the half.
Coming out of the break, Akana hit a layup, putting the 'Swords down by 12, but a 10-0 run by the Sea Lions – six from West alone – put them up by 22. Chaminade made one a final effort as triples from Buskey and
Glacen Florita keyed a 12-4 run to leave the Silverswords down 51-37 with 13:18 left. But the 'Swords went the next six minutes without a point as the Sea Lions pulled away.
Point Loma converted on 48.1 percent of its shots while Chaminade was only 19-of-53 (35.8 percent). The Sea Lions won the rebounding advantage, 39-29, and hit 20-of-28 foul shots. Meanwhile, the 'Swords were only able to get to the free throw line nine times, making only three with all three successful foul shots coming from
Carissa McBride. Despite committing 24 turnovers, the 'Swords were able to force 18 PLNU giveaways.
Meanwhile, Florita's six points on the night moved her past Rhani Kaneaikala into fourth place of the program's all-time career scoring list with 468 points, just five shy of Katherine Carlisle for third.
The Silverswords return to action Tuesday when they face Dixie State at McCabe Gym. Tip-off is slated for 5 p.m. with live streaming audio coverage available on GoSwords.com.
