Tribune-Herald Coach David Kaneshiro said Thursday night might have been the best his team has ever played. It’s definitely the best conference start for a University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s basketball team. ADVERTISING Guard Kirsten Shimizu scored 21 points
Tribune-Herald
Coach David Kaneshiro said Thursday night might have been the best his team has ever played. It’s definitely the best conference start for a University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s basketball team.
Guard Kirsten Shimizu scored 21 points and forward Hillary Hurley managed 14 points against a defense designed to stop her as the Vulcans beat BYU-Hawaii 72-59 in Laie, Oahu.
UHH (6-5) won its fifth straight to improve to 3-0 in the Pacific West Conference for the first time in the program’s six-year history.
“It’s good that we’ve had some early success, now we’ve got to see if we can build on it,” UHH coach David Kaneshiro said. ‘We’re confident, but we don’t want to be too confident.”
Kaneshiro said it took some time for the Vulcans to figure out how to attack the Seasiders’ box-and-one defense against Hurley, but once they did, the results were encouraging.
“Perhaps the best all-around effort we’ve had a team,” said the second-year coach.
Shimizu shot 7 of 10 and made four 3-pointers, Thea Hanato-Smith scored nine points and Hotia Vaaimamao added eight. With BYU-Hawaii sagging inside defensively, Hurley only took four shots, but she made all 10 of her free throws and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
“We adjusted well to their defense,” Kaneshiro said. “The girls were making good passes and getting good looks and knocking them down.”
Forward Shayla Washington scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Seasiders (1-9, 0-2) lost for the second time this season to UHH. Center Taylor Mann had 18 points. However, Washington and Mann combined to commit 14 of their team’s 24 turnovers
The Vulcans shot 40 percent in each half, but they turned on the defensive intensity after leading by five after a tight first half.
Hanato-Smith hit a jumper, Shimizu nailed a 3-pointer and Vaaimamao made a layup to go along with two Hurley free throws as UHH went on a 9-2 run to take a 49-37 lead four minutes into the second half. After BYU-Hawaii worked the deficit down to seven with under three minutes left, UHH salted the game away at the line.
The Seasiders shot only 24. 1 percent in the second half.
UHH 38 34—72
BYUH 33 26—59
Men
Tsung-Hsien “Jet” Chang scored 29 points on 11 of 19 shooting to lead BYUH to an 81-63 rout over UHH on Thursday night in a men’s PacWest basketball game.
Defending co-champion BYUH improved to 5-6 overall and 2-0 in the PacWest. The Vulcans slipped to 6-5 and 0-3, respectively.
UHH trailed just 34-31 at halftime, but were outscored 47-32 in the second half, one in which the Seasiders shot 50 percent from the field.
Zach Wilde scored 17 points and Mychael Hearn added 14 for the Vulcans, who shot 35 percent.
BYUH hit 11 of 25 from 3-point range while UHH was 3 of 13.
The UHH men and women host Academy of Art University on Monday, Jan. 9 and Chaminade University on Saturday, Jan. 14 at the UHH Gym.
The women play at 5 p.m., followed by the men at 7:30 p.m.
UHH 31 32 — 63
BYUH 34 47 — 81
