HONOLULU – The Chaminade University women's basketball team was looking to make it two straight wins for the first time this season but couldn't put together two good halves in their 65-49 loss to Fresno Pacific Saturday at McCabe Gym.
Alicia Dugan (Renton, Wash./Peninsula College) led the Silverswords (2-14, 2-12 PacWest) with 12 points while
Destiny Castro (Talofofo, Guam/Notre Dame HS) had 11 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, her second consecutive double-double and seventh this season.
Jessica Malazarte had 12 to lead the Sunbirds (11-13, 9-7 PacWest).
Breann Nueku (Honolulu/Clark College) contributed with 11 points, hitting a trio of 3-pointers.
Jakarra Waddell (Burbank, Calif./Long Beach City College) had her second straight strong rebounding game with six while Dugan also pulled down six.
FPU led the entire first quarter but a 10-0 run spanning the end of the first into the start of the second gave the 'Swords their first lead of the game at 18-17 on a triple from
Chloe Morrison (Edmonds, Wash./Archbishop Murphy).
A trey from
Skye Haraga (Kaneohe, Hawai'i/Punahou) put Chaminade up 28-25, its largest of the game before FPU built its lead to 36-29 toward the end of the first half. However Castro's driving layup with 4 seconds left cut the deficit to 36-31 at halftime.
Dugan greeted the second half with a 3-pointer then Castro's bucket tied it at 36. But the Sunbirds made the key run, outscoring CUH 12-2 over the next seven minutes to build their lead to double-digits from which the 'Swords could not recover.
Chaminade had just nine points in both the third and fourth quarters and shot just 29.3 percent in the game while Fresno Pacific shot 40.6 percent.
The 'Swords were outrebounded, 48-34, and had just five assists. FPU had just seven assists but just eight turnovers.
The Silverswords will be on the road for the next five games including their next four in Southern California, starting next Saturday at Concordia University Irvine. Chaminade will not have another home game for another three weeks which is the season finale against Azusa Pacific.
