HONOLULU – The first game of the 2017 calendar year saw the Chaminade University women's basketball team fall to Concordia University Irvine, 93-77, Tuesday at McCabe Gym.
Lilia Maio led the Silverswords with 19 points and 10 rebounds, her school-record 18
th career double-double.
Destiny Castro added 17 points while
Kristle Henry, who on Monday was name the Pacific West Conference Defender of the Week, had 16.
Courtney Kaupu scored 11 points for the 'Swords, who felt to 1-10 on the season and 1-6 in the conference.
Kaupu pulled down seven boards while
Carissa Webb had a season-high six. Henry tied her season-best with seven assists while Castro had five helpers.
Meanwhile Maio increased her career scoring total to 1,095 as she continued her ascent to Samantha Saito's record of 1,141.
CUI was led by Sopavy Seng's 18 points with the Eagles improving to 5-6 and 3-2.
Chaminade owned the first half and led by as many as nine midway through the second quarter. But the Eagles went on a 16-6 run in the final four minutes of the quarter, taking their first lead of the game on Annie Studdert's jumper in the final seconds of the half to put CUI up 43-42.
Concordia's lead swelled to 11 in the third quarter but Castro, Henry and Maio provided all the points in a 12-2 run to chop the deficit to 64-63 with 1:28 left in the quarter. However, the 'Swords' committed turnovers on four straight possessions in the final minute of the third, all leading to CUI buckets to put the visitors up by 11 heading into the fourth.
The 'Swords got to within six on Henry's triple a minute into the final quarter but that was as close as they got.
Chaminade finished with a 48.3 shooting percentage while CUI went for 52.2. The 'Swords out-rebounded the Eagles, 38-33, while assists were even at 19. However Concordia had only 10 turnovers while Chaminade gave it away 20 times, leading to 35 points off turnovers. The Eagles, who came into the game leading the PacWest in steals at nearly 12 per game, finished at their season average.
The Silverswords return to action Thursday when they host No. 11 California Baptist at McCabe Gym. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. with live streaming audio on GoSwords.com.
