FRESNO, Calif. –Playing their first game in 15 days, the Chaminade University women's basketball team opened their first mainland trip of the season Monday with a 72-62 loss to Fresno Pacific at the Special Events Center.
Diamond Carter (Kapolei, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Olympic College/Kapolei HS) had 20 points and nine rebounds in defeat.
Destiny Castro (Talofofo, Guam/Notre Dame HS), who had her streak of 37 consecutive games played snapped in the Silverswords' last outing against Saint Martin's on Dec. 16, also had 20 points while adding six rebounds, six assists and six steals.
Hunter Liftee (Kamuela, Hawai'i/Central Methodist Univ./Honoka'a HS) had 13 points with a season-high eight boards for the royal blue and white. Six of them came on the offensive glass.
Fresno Pacific was led by Jessica Malazarte's 16 points. The diminutive 5-foot-2 guard hit four 3-pointers for the Sunbirds who improved to 9-3 overall and 5-1 in the PacWest.
Ellyonna Bankofier (Happy Valley, Ore./Clackamas) had seven points for the 'Swords who fell to 2-7 and 1-4 in the conference.
The 'Swords did not show any signs of rustiness early, scoring the game's first six points on 3-pointers from Bankofier and Carter less than 90 seconds into the game, prompting a quick timeout from FPU.
But the Sunbirds came roaring back via a 17-2 run that helped them build a 20-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
FPU continued to roll, building as much as a 21-point lead midway through the third. However Chaminade battled back closing to within 10 at 60-50 with 4:10 remaining on layups from Castro,
Arianna Blowe (Monument, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) and a short baseline jumper from Bankofier.
FPU managed to extend its lead back to 16 before late buckets from Liftee, Carter and Castro helped reduce the final margin to 10.
Fresno Pacific shot 42.4 percent from the field and hit seven triples while Chaminade made just under 36 percent of its shots. The 'Swords held the rebounding edge, 42-39, but the Sunbirds had 14 assists. All but one of Chaminade's seven assists were distributed by Castro.
Jordyn Zader (Mukwonago, Wis./Pius XI) had the other.
Chaminade managed to force 14 FPU turnovers but also gave it away 16 times.
The Silverswords will look to start the new calendar year off right when they face Academy of Art on Wednesday.
