HONOLULU – The youthful Chaminade University women's basketball team continues to gain valuable experience against one of the nation's top squads.
On Saturday, the Silverswords dropped another contest to nationally-ranked Hawai'i Pacific University, 75-45 at McCabe Gymnasium.
Playing the third of four consecutive meetings during a nine-day stretch, the 'Swords held the Sharks to their second-lowest shooting performance of the season at a 39 percent clip. Not so coincidently, the 'Swords have seen the margin of defeat shrink from 60 to 34 then 30 on Saturday.
Emma Morris (Tuscon, Ariz./Tanque Verde) paced Chaminade (0-5 Pacific West Conference) with 11 points, the third straight game the freshman has at least co-led the team in the points department. Morris hit three more 3-pointers, giving her 14 on the season. Her 2.8 triples per game average is second-most in the PacWest this season.
Fellow freshman
Carsen Bridges (Groveland, Fla./Leesburg) also hit a trio of triples for a season-high 10 points while also pulling down five rebounds.
HPU (8-0, 7-0 PacWest), ranked eighth in the WBCA Coaches Poll and second in the D2SIDA Media Poll, got 21 points from Amy Baum along with 16 points and 15 boards from Olivia West to extend the nation's longest active winning streak to 33 games. It was also the Sharks' 55th consecutive win over a local Division II school dating back to January 2012.
Michaella Dean (Irvine, Calif./Orange Lutheran) pulled down a team-high six rebounds for the 'Swords while she and
Emily Laham (Potwin, Kan./Maize) each had two assists.
Down 52-19 midway through the third quarter, the 'Swords showed a lot of fight left.
Lile Hina Oyama (Honolulu/Kalani), Morris and Bridges hit triples while Laham added a short jumper in the lane to give them an 11-0 run. However, the experienced Sharks quelled the run in the late stages of the quarter.
Chaminade managed to hold HPU to just 7-of-30 from 3-point range. In their previous two contests, the Sharks managed 30 triples. However the 'Swords where outrebounded 58-34.
The Silverswords and Sharks meet for the fourth time in as many matchups on Wednesday. The final three games of the series will be played at The Shark Tank in Manoa Valley.
