ATHERTON, Calif. – The Chaminade University women's basketball team opened a three-game northern California road trip on Tuesday with an 82-63 loss to Menlo College at Hayes-Prim Pavilion.
The Silverswords, making their first venture to the mainland this season, dropped to 3-6 and suffered their first Pacific West Conference defeat of the season, falling to 2-1 in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Sameera Elmasri (Shawnee, Kan./Birmingham-Southern Univ./Saint Thomas Aquinas HS), who on Monday was named the PacWest Player of the Week, led the 'Swords with 15 points while pulling in five rebounds.
Alyssa Schuetze (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak) chipped in with 13 points, tying her career, while
Julien Parado (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Campbell) added 10 and two assists. Freshman post
Kali Jones (Hyrum, Utah/Mountain Crest) set a new season high with 11 rebounds and
Morgan Escobedo (Scottsdale, Ariz./Pinnacle) chipped in with seven points, seven boards and three steals.
The Oaks got 23 points from Mehkia Applewhite to win the first PacWest game in program history, improving to 1-2 in the conference, 4-5 overall.
Parado and Elmasri had Chaminade's first two field goals of the game to knot the score at 5 minutes into the opening quarter but the Oaks scored the next 19 points in the frame to establish control.
Trailing by as many as 31 in the third quarter, the 'Swords began chipping away as Elmasri, the conference's leading scorer at 18.4 points per outing entering the game, came alive with eight straight points. Parado and Jones kept the CUH rally alive with buckets to chop the deficit to 62-46 with a minute left in the quarter.
However, Menlo's 15-3 run to open the final period helped quash the potential comeback.
The 'Swords finished with a 32.8 field goal percentage with 5-of-17 shooting from 3-point range and making 16 of their 27 free throws. They grabbed 42 rebounds with nine assists and 18 turnovers and outscored the Oaks from the bench, 26-15.
Menlo shot 46.2 from the floor, made 7-of-16 from long range and was 15-of-18 at the charity stripe with 42 boards, 12 assists with 15 giveaways.
The Silverswords continue their road trip Thursday at Dominican University of California. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Hawai'i time.
