HONOLULU – The Chaminade University women's basketball team returned to action after a 15-day layoff but suffered a 78-74 loss Wednesday to Holy Names at McCabe Gym.
Diamond Carter (Kapolei, Hawai'i/Olympic College) and
Destiny Castro (Talofofo, Guam/Notre Dame HS) had 17 points each for the Silverswords who fell to 1-6 overall and 1-4 in the Pacific West Conference.
Kali Benavente (Tamuning, Guam/Academy of Our Lady of Guam) added a career-high 14 points for Chaminade, hitting 6 of 11 shots from the field.
Castro also pulled down 13 rebounds, one shy of her career-high. She also had seven assists, falling three shy of the first-ever triple-double in Silverswords' women's basketball history. The sophomore guard added three steals and a block.
Taylor Krouse had a game-high 24 points while Onjalise Carley-Hillard had 20 for the Hawks (2-12, 1-5 PacWest).
The loss to HNU was just the third in the last six meetings and snapped a three-game home winning streak to the Hawks.
Chaminade trailed by as many as 17 (50-33) late in the third quarter. But Benavente sparked a 12-4 quarter-ending run with back-to-back buckets with and-one opportunities to help reduce the deficit to 54-45 at the end of the third.
The 'Swords' momentum carried over into the fourth with Castro assisting on 3-pointers by
Alicia Dugan (Renton, Wash./Peninsula College) and
Chloe Morrison (Edmonds, Wash./Archbishop Murphy). Castro hit a layup after blocking an HNU shot on the other end and suddenly, Chaminade was within three (56-53) just two minutes into the fourth.
Down by three with under a minute left, Castro grabbed a loose ball and hit a layup to close the gap to 72-71. But Carley-Hillard stuck a put-back off her own miss on the ensuing possession to put HNU up back by three. Krouse then hit a pair of free throws after a Chaminade miss on the other end to seal the game.
The 'Swords were held to 35.4 percent shooting while HNU was at 49.1. They were also out-rebounded 49-39 although 17 of CUH's boards were on the offensive end. Chaminade also managed to force 22 Hawks giveaways.
Chaminade attempted a program-record 79 shots. The previous mark was 78, done twice, the first coming in November 2015 against the University of Mary, then again in January 2017 against Concordia University Irvine.
The Silverswords will end their current seven-game home stand Friday against Notre Dame de Namur. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. with live audio coverage on GoSwords.com.
