AZUSA, Calif. – The Chaminade University women's basketball team wrapped up their final road trip of the season with an 82-62 loss to Azusa Pacific Monday at the Felix Event Center.
Glacen Florita was 5-for-6 from the field and set a career-high by hitting all four of her 3-point attempts to lead the Silverswords with 16 points.
Katie Buskey contributed with 12 points while
Kristle Henry had 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and five steals.
The loss dropped the Silverswords to 6-15 overall and 6-11 in the Pacific West Conference. Despite the setback, BYU-Hawai'i and Dominican also lost on Monday, keeping the 'Swords mathematically alive in the chase for the sixth and final spot in next month's PacWest Tournament in Irvine, Calif. Chaminade is 2 ½ games behind the Seasiders and Penguins with three games remaining.
The Cougars (16-9, 12-6) got five players in double-digits, led by Kelly Hardemann's 20 points and nine rebounds.
The 'Swords got back-to-back 3-pointers from Buskey and Florita, giving them an early 8-6 lead. But they were held to only one field goal over the next seven minutes as the Cougars went on a 16-3 run during that span to take a 24-11 lead.
Sabrina Angle's triple and a pair of Henry free throws helped to reduce the deficit to 26-16 with 8:28 left, but another APU run, this time at 12-0, would build its lead to 22 points. Chaminade trailed 48-25 at the half.
The Cougars built the lead to as many as 30 early in the second half, but the 'Swords demonstrated fighting spirit in the final 15 minutes. Scores from
Shana Kawakami, Henry, Buskey and
Lilia Maio helped the Silverswords go on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to 17 with nine minutes left.
Later, back-to-back buckets from Kawakami and Henry got them to within 16 at 74-58, the closest they would get the rest of the game.
Chaminade was out-shot from the floor, 47.5-37.5, and out-rebounded, 44-27. The 'Swords tied a season-high with nine 3-pointers and had 12 steals with 10 assists.
Florita's four triples gave her 89 in her career, only five behind Marian Murphy for the program career 3-pointers record. Meanwhile, Angle hit two against APU, putting her eight behind Murphy.
The Silverswords open their final home stand of the season Saturday when they host Holy Names at McCabe Gym. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. with live streaming audio on GoSwords.com.
