HONOLULU – For the 12th consecutive calendar year, the Chaminade University women's basketball team will have to wait until the next season for the elusive win over crosstown rival Hawai'i Pacific University.
The Silverswords were handed an 83-47 defeat Monday by the Sharks at the Neal Blaisdell Center.
Michaella Dean (Irvine, Calif./Orange Lutheran) led the 'Swords with a season-high 12 points, the first double-digit scoring game of her career while
Hunter Liftee (Kamuela, Hawai'i/Central Methodist Univ./Honoka'a HS) followed with 10.
Destiny Castro (Talofofo, Guam/Notre Dame HS) was held to nine points, ending a streak of 15 consecutive games in double-digits. The junior guard is 48 points shy of 1,000 in her career. She also had three steals.
Ellyonna Bankofier (Happy Valley, Ore./Clackamas) chipped in with six points while
Arianna Blowe (Monument, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) pulled down a team-high rebounds.
Chaminade fell to 4-14 overall and 3-11 in the Pacific West Conference. They have dropped 28 consecutive games to HPU with their last win against the Sharks coming on Feb. 22, 2007. The Silverswords also fell three games behind sixth-place Concordia Irvine which currently owns the sixth and final spot in next month's PacWest Championships. Chaminade is tied with Hawai'i Hilo in seventh.
HPU, which has already clinched a spot in the conference tournament and winners of nine straight, improved to 16-5 and 14-1 in the conference. The Sharks also continued their dominance over their counterparts from the 808, winning their 43rd straight over Hawai'i's Division II opponents. HPU's last loss to a Hawai'i foe was on Jan. 3, 2012 against UH Hilo.
Breanna MacKenzie, who earlier in the day was named PacWest Player of the Week, had a game-highs of 20 points and 10 boards for the Sharks.
HPU, which handed No. 25 Azusa Pacific its first conference loss of the season last week, jumped out to a quick 15-3 lead five minutes in. The Sharks were feeling it from beyond the arc early, knocking down six 3-pointers in the first quarter for a 26-7 lead after the game's first 10 minutes.
The Sharks continued to add to their lead in the second quarter, capped by Amy Baum's triple as time expired – HPU's second buzzer-beating 3-pointer of the half – which sent Chaminade down 45-21 at the break.
Despite the outcome no longer in doubt, the 'Swords managed to play with energy in the late stages of the game with Dean accounting for seven points during a 10-0 run.
Chaminade was held to a season-low 26.3 percent shooting (15-of-57) from the floor including just 2-of-19 from 3-point range. They also made 15 of 26 free throws, their most makes and attempts in nearly a month.
Meanwhile, HPU made nearly 43 percent of its shots and hit 13 3-pointers. They also out-rebounded CUH 50-36.
HPU's victory also clinched the women's basketball portion of the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge.
The Silverswords return to McCabe Gymnasium Friday when they host Dominican University of California. The Penguins tout Division II's second-leading scorer in Natalie Diaz (26.1 ppg). The 'Swords held Diaz to, at the time, a season-low 14 points in the teams' first meeting on Jan. 5 in San Rafael, Calif.
