Tribune-Herald ADVERTISING Tribune-Herald In the rematch against Dominican, Jordan Kealoha and McKenzie Mangino had solid games for the University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s basketball team — everyone else in a Vulcan uniform struggled. The Penguins beat the Vulcans 63-53
Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
In the rematch against Dominican, Jordan Kealoha and McKenzie Mangino had solid games for the University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s basketball team — everyone else in a Vulcan uniform struggled.
The Penguins beat the Vulcans 63-53 on Thursday in San Rafael, Calf., previously home to the Pacific West Conference cellar-dweller.
However, Dominican (3-14 overall, 3-8) escaped last place after jumping on a one-game winning streak. The Penguins, who lost nine straight to start the season, were led by Salonika Quewon-Owens’ 23 points.
The Vulcans (6-8, 5-5) have lost two in a row on their four-game road trip. They beat the Penguins 83-64 on Jan. 4.
UHH shot just 35.7 percent from the field. That stat plummets if Kealoha’s 13 points on 4 of 9 shooting and Mangino’s 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers, are subtracted.
“First half, we hurt ourselves with a lot of mistakes,” said UHH coach David Kaneshiro, whose team had 12 turnovers in the first half and 21 overall. “Missed layups and poor execution didn’t help us at all. They were active defensively.
“When we weren’t turning the ball over, we got fairly good looks. It’s one of those nights where the shots didn’t go down. I thought we played hard and were focused. We just didn’t execute. In the second half, defensive lapses hurt us.”
Dominican shot 46 percent on field goals.
The Vulcans next play Fresno Pacific (5-11, 5-5) on Saturday. The Sunbirds have won two straight.
“The road doesn’t get any easier Saturday at Fresno Pacific,” Kaneshiro said.
Dominican men 94, UHH 77: The Vulcans were beaten up on the boards and allowed 62.3 percent shooting in dropping their 11th straight game.
Connor Haysbert scored 18 points, Dominique Taplin added 17 points and 10 rebounds and Myles Carrillo posted 16 points and 12 assists for the Penguins (12-7, 6-5 PacWest). Dominican held a 38-18 edge in rebounding and shot 33 of 53 from the field.
“We didn’t defend like we needed to (on the road),” UHH coach GE Coleman said. “I don’t think we played very well and the effort was inconsistent.”
One bright spot for the Vulcans (3-13, 0-10) was Joey Rodriguez, who contributed a game-high 21 points and five assists. Darnell Williams added 15 points and Yevgeniy Dyachenko made 4 3-pointers and had 12 points.
The UHH men and women conclude their road trip Saturday at Fresno Pacific.
