HONOLULU – Last Saturday in Irvine, Calif., the Chaminade University women's basketball team prevented Concordia University Irvine from clinching the Pacific West Conference's final spot in next week's championship tournament.
On Thursday, the Silverswords had a chance to knock out CUI's competition for that coveted bid.
But Notre Dame de Namur made the plays it needed to in the waning minutes to pull out a 63-59 win over the 'Swords in their home finale at McCabe Gymnasium.
Destiny Castro (Talofofo, Guam/Notre Dame HS) logged a game-high 19 points before fouling out with 1:13 remaining with Chaminade trailing by two. The junior guard also had six rebounds in defeat.
The 'Swords fell to 6-19 overall and 5-16 in the PacWest.
Jordan Rodriguez had a team-high 15 points for the Argonauts who won their fifth straight to improve to 9-16 and 8-13 in the conference, just one game behind Concordia with just Saturday's games remaining. NDNU can clinch a tournament berth with a win at Hawai'i Pacific and a CUI loss at Point Loma.
Hunter Liftee (Kamuela, Hawai'i/Central Methodist Univ./Honoka'a HS) had 16 points and five rebounds in her final home game. Also playing in their final games at McCabe Gym were
Diamond Carter (Kapolei, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Olympic College/Kapolei HS), who had six points and seven boards, and
Sephora Yayouss (Brussels, Belgium/Peninsula College/K.A. Etterbeek HS) who contributed with two points, three rebounds and three assists.
Ellyonna Bankofier (Happy Valley, Ore./Clackamas) hit three 3-pointers for 11 points while
Kali Benavente (Tamuning, Guam/Academy of Our Lady of Guam) tied her career-high with eight assists.
Despite shooting just over 30 percent in the first half to the Argos' 42 percent, Chaminade trailed by just five (31-26) at halftime.
NDNU was able to build its largest lead of the game, 50-39, with 1:34 left in the third quarter but a Liftee triple to open the fourth followed by baskets from Castro and Carter narrowed the deficit to 50-47 with 6:23 left. But a CUH technical foul led to three NDNU free throws to end the 8-0 run and put the Argos up by six.
With NDNU leading 57-51, Castro drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the arc then foul shots from Liftee and Castro tied it at 57 with 1:46 remaining. But on the next possession, Rachel Pau'u slipped behind the Chaminade defense to hit the go-ahead layup 27 second later. Then on the Silverswords' ensuing possession, Pau'u drew a charge on Castro in the lane with 1:13 left, nullifying her apparent game-tying floater. The pivotal charge call was also Castro's fifth personal which sent her to the bench, her first disqualification since December 2017.
Despite losing the PacWest's second-leading scorer, the 'Swords still had another opportunity. Down 62-59 with just 13 seconds left, Carter's game-tying 3 from the left wing was off the mark and Sharon Roldan's free throw with 3 seconds left sealed the game.
NDNU made nearly 48 percent of its shots and pulled down 34 rebounds. Chaminade shot just 32.8 percent with 31 boards but did out-assist the Argos, 14-8, and forced 20 turnovers, the 'Swords fourth consecutive game of forcing 20 or more giveaways.
Meanwhile Castro has 1,108 career points, putting her just 33 behind Samantha Saito for second in the program's all-time scoring list. Liftee's points gives her 294 on the season which ranks ninth for a single season while Carter's 48 career 3-pointers leaves her tied for eighth all-time.
The Silverswords will wrap up the season Saturday at Hawai'i Hilo where they will look for a season sweep and record-tying seventh win.
