HILO, Hawai'i – The Chaminade University women's basketball team made their final road appearance of the season, but fell in a 59-51 loss to Hawai'i-Hilo Saturday at the Hilo Civic Auditorium.
The Silverswords fell to 5-16 on the season and 5-12 in the Pacific West Conference.
Despite the loss, junior forward
Lilia Maio continued her journey towards the top of the career scoring list as her 15 points gave her 904 in her career, becoming only the second Silversword to reach the 900-point plateau. She also recorded 11 rebounds for her second straight double-double, her seventh this season and her program-record 14
th.
Maio needs 238 points to pass all-time leading scorer Samantha Saito (1,141).
Sydney Mercer came off the bench for a game-high 20 points for the Vulcans (8-12, 8-7), who defeated Chaminade for only the second time in the last six contests.
Kristle Henry added 10 points and three steals while
Shana Kawakami had seven points and six boards.
Courtney Kaupu returned to her home island and had six points and six rebounds while
Taylor Babbitt also had six boards.
Chaminade allowed only one UH-Hilo field goal in the game's first six minutes and held a 13-8 lead after the first quarter.
The second quarter proved to be a challenge for both squads. Both teams went scoreless in the first three minutes of the second quarter, followed by another three-minute lull later in the stanza. But the drought affected the visitors more as Chaminade failed to get on the board in the final 4:11 while the Vulcans grabbed a 21-19 halftime lead.
The Silverswords scoring woes continued after the break before
Carissa McBride finally got a shot to fall with 4:28 left in the third, a span of well over eight minutes without a point. UH-Hilo capitalized, outscoring the 'Swords, 20-9, in the third to grab a 41-28 lead.
Chaminade finally managed to find its scoring touch in the fourth and closed to 48-41 on Kaupu's jumper with 2:58 left to play. However the 'Swords never got any closer as the Vulcans managed to pull away in the end to salvage a split of the season series.
The 'Swords shot only 32.3 percent from the floor and only made six of their 13 free throw attempts, although they did win the rebounding edge, 43-42. The Vulcans were 37.7 percent from the field and dished out 16 assists to Chaminade's 10.
The Silverswords return home to McCabe Gym for their final three games of the season. They face BYU-Hawai'i next Saturday at 5 p.m. GoSwords.com will have live streaming audio coverage.
