HONOLULU – The Chaminade University women's basketball returned home from their first Mainland road trip of the season but dropped a 71-67 decision Thursday to BYU-Hawai'i at McCabe Gym.
Lilia Maio had a team-high 17 points and career-tying three blocks in defeat for the Silverswords who fell to 2-14 overall and 2-10 in the Pacific West Conference.
Kristle Henry added 11 points as she became only the third player in program history to reach the career 800-point mark. Freshman
Kali Benavente scored a career-high 10 in the loss. Henry also had five rebounds, five steals and blocked two shots.
The Seasiders (7-8, 4-5 PacWest) were led by Kristin Baldwin's 18 points and 12 rebounds.
It was the 28
th and final meeting in the brief 11-year history between the two O'ahu rivals with BYUH ending the series with four consecutive victories and a 24-4 advantage. Both schools began intercollegiate women's basketball in 2006.
Courtney Kaupu had nine points for the 'Swords while
Taylor Babbitt had a team-best seven rebounds.
The Seasiders scored the game's first eight points before the Silverswords rallied as Maio scored five of the team's next seven points to pull within a digit. BYUH would build its lead back and held its largest lead of 42-31 at halftime.
The Seasiders led by as many as 15 (49-34) midway through the third quarter but Chaminade held BYUH scoreless for nearly six minutes and went on a 9-0 run with Babbitt getting four points and a
Chantal Yadao 3-pointer helped draw the home team closer to 49-43 before the end of the quarter.
The Seasiders seemed to have put the game out of reach as Marian Sheikh's triple put them up by 14 with 4:27 remaining. However, the 'Swords had one more rally left. Henry hit a layup then on the next BYUH possession, made a steal and found
Kiana Wright in the right corner who promptly buried her first field goal of the season – a 3-pointer – which pulled the 'Swords to within nine. Benavente and Henry completed the 9-0 run with layups to pull to within five (68-63) with 49 seconds left.
BYUH made 3 of 4 free throws as it tried to hold off the 'Swords then with 5 seconds left, Kaupu's short jumper made it a four-point game at 71-67. Chaminade then used its final timeout and before the Seasiders could make the inbounds pass, Sheikh shoved Yadao to the ground and was given a technical foul which also caused her to foul out of the game and give two free throws and possession back to Chaminade with a chance to tie or win the game with success foul shots. But the 'Swords missed both freebies then failed to score on the subsequent possession as BYUH held on in the final seconds.
The 'Swords made 41.0 percent of their shots, their third straight game of hitting 40 or over, but was outrebounded, 51-37, including 22-6 on the offensive glass. Chaminade also made seven 3-pointers with Maio making a career-high three. Meanwhile Wright, who didn't tally a point all season, set a career-high with five.
The Silverswords conclude their short two-game home stand Monday against Holy Names at McCabe Gym. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. with live streaming audio coverage on GoSwords.com.
