FRESNO, Calif. – The Chaminade University women's basketball team opened their five-game, 14-day road trip Monday with a 74-70 overtime loss to Fresno Pacific at the Special Event Center.
Sameera Elmasri (Shawnee, Kan./Birmingham-Southern Univ./Saint Thomas Aquinas HS) had a game-high 18 points, hitting 12 free throws, while pulling down eight rebounds for the Silverswords who fell to 5-11 and 4-6 in the Pacific West Conference.
Dezaray Carter (Honolulu/Sacred Hearts Academy) and
Alyssa Schuetze (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak) both tacked on 14 points for the 'Swords, career-highs for both. Carter also hauled in eight boards.
Kali Jones (Hyrum, Utah/Mountain Crest) ripped down 15 rebounds for the 'Swords, who surrendered a 22-point first half lead, the largest in program history.
Morgan Escobedo (Scottsdale, Ariz./Pinnacle) added seven points, snapping her five-game double-digit scoring streak, while bringing in eight boards and getting three steals.
Breanna Hurt and Angela Whitfield led Fresno Pacific with 11 points each to help the Sunbirds snap a four-game losing streak to improve to 8-9 and 4-6 in the PacWest while extending their win streak over CUH in the series to 12. Anisa Rillo's corner 3-pointer in overtime broke a 66-all deadlock with 25 seconds left.
The 'Swords opened the first quarter in a flurry, hitting 10 of their first 22 shots while holding the Sunbirds to just 2-of-12 from the field, resulting in a 26-8 lead after the first 10 minutes.
Elmasri and Jones hit jumpers in the opening two minutes of the second quarter, allowing Chaminade to own a 30-8 lead, their largest of the game. However, FPU, which missed all but one of its first seven 3-pointers, suddenly caught fire from beyond the arc, making four of its last seven attempts in the final 3:34 of the quarter. The flurry of 3s narrowed the 'Swords' lead to 39-27 at halftime.
The 'Swords seemed to steal the momentum back as Schuetze had five points to help them build the lead to 49-32 midway through the third quarter. However, an 11-0 Sunbirds run got them right back into the game. FPU completed the rally thanks to a technical foul, which led to four free throws, giving them a 59-55 edge with just under six minutes left.
A layup from
Madison Gage (Broomfield, Colo./Legacy) would be the final field goal in the final four minutes of the second half by either team while an Escobedo free throw with 2:54 left knotted the score at 61 which sent the game into overtime.
Two Elmasri free throws followed by Jones' layup would give Chaminade a 65-61 lead a minute into the extra session but FPU countered by tying it on free throws with 49 seconds left. However a turnover on the 'Swords ensuing possession led to Rillo's go-ahead triple with 25 seconds left. The 'Swords were unable to get a tying score and Carter's triple with seven seconds left would be as close as they got.
Chaminade shot 31.4 percent during the game with Carter sinking both the team's 3-pointers. They made 24 of their 30 shots at the charity stripe and out-rebounded Fresno Pacific, 55-to-40. However, they committed 25 turnovers and had just three assists, the fewest since February 2022.
Fresno Pacific shot 33.9 percent from the floor, made eight triples and was 24-of-32 at the free throw line. They had 13 assists and 22 giveaways.
The Silverswords will make the long nearly six-hour drive down the coast to San Diego, the PacWest's southern-most California school, to face conference undefeated Point Loma on Saturday. Tipoff is at noon Hawai'i time.
