AZUSA, Calif. – The Chaminade University women's basketball team opened their final road trip of the season Saturday with a 76-53 loss to nationally-ranked Azusa Pacific at the Felix Event Center.
Destiny Castro (Talofofo, Guam/Notre Dame HS) led the Silverswords with 22 points and six rebounds while
Breann Nueku (Honolulu/Clark College/Kamehameha-Kapalama HS) added nine points, all coming in the fourth quarter. Castro also had two steals, her 18th multi-steal game this season.
The Silverswords actually hung with APU for three quarters. But it was a 26-6 second period that proved to play a major factor in the loss. Chaminade was outscored a combined 50-47 in the first, third and fourth.
Chaminade fell to 4-18 overall and 4-12 in the Pacific West Conference.
Azusa Pacific, ranked No. 15 in the WBCA Coaches Poll and No. 25 in the D2SIDA Media Poll, got 14 points from Savanna Hanson, the daughter of Scott Hanson who played for Chaminade in the early-1980s and was a member of the 1982 squad which shocked then-No. 1 Virginia. The Cougars improved to 18-3 overall and 12-3 in the PacWest.
Cheyenne Ardona (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) added six points for the 'Swords while
Michaella Dean (Irvine, Calif./Orange Lutheran) had a team-high eight rebounds.
APU jumped out to an 11-2 lead early in the first quarter with all the signs of yet another Cougars runaway. But Castro accounted for the 'Swords' next 10 points while
Arianna Blowe (Monument, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) sank a 19-footer from straight away at the end of the quarter and suddenly, Chaminade was back in it and trailing the nationally-ranked squad just 15-14.
But the second quarter helped give the Cougars a 41-20 halftime advantage.
In the third, the 'Swords played evenly with the hosts with both teams scoring 18 points. Like she did in the first period, Castro accounted for 10 of Chaminade's points. Nueku, who was held scoreless for the game's first 35 minutes, caught fire in the fourth, draining three consecutive 3-pointers to help keep the deficit in the low 20s.
Ellyonna Bankofier (Happy Valley, Ore./Clackamas) also joined the triples party with her only 3 during the Silverswords' fourth-quarter run.
Although the 'Swords shot just 32.7 percent, they held APU to 42.9 from the floor, a far-better improvement from the 55 percent the Cougars shot in the first meeting in Honolulu back in early December. They also took care of the ball, turning it over just 12 times.
But Chaminade was out-rebounded 47-33 and was outscored 13-0 on second chance points.
The Silverswords will be in San Diego on Monday to face Point Loma.
