Tribune-Herald Tribune-Herald ADVERTISING Playing its third game in three days, the University of Hawaii at Hilo nearly saved its best for last. The Vulcans had one last surge left in them, but Hawaii Pacific’s Susannah Walmsley had the answer. Walmsley
Tribune-Herald
Playing its third game in three days, the University of Hawaii at Hilo nearly saved its best for last. The Vulcans had one last surge left in them, but Hawaii Pacific’s Susannah Walmsley had the answer.
Walmsley scored 18 points and hit the go-ahead jumper with 14 seconds left as the Sea Warriors survived a furious UHH comeback for a 61-59 victory at Moanalua High School in Honolulu.
Senior guard Jameia McDuffie scored six of her 11 points as the Lady Vuls (2-2) used a late 13-0 run to tie the game. Kirtsten Shimizu’s 3-pointer capped the comeback with 44 seconds left.
After Walmsley, a senior guard, put HPU (4-2) back in front, Shimizu missed a layup as the clock was winding down.
“We battled in the last four minutes,” UHH coach Dave Kaneshiro said. “They just wanted it a little more than us.”
Junior guard/forward Kamie Imai also scored 11 points, including a layup that got UHH within three points. Before that, the Vuls did most of their damage during the spurt at the line. Junior forward Mikela Thoemmes hit a basket as the Sea Warriors matched their largest lead at 59-46 with just over four minutes left, but McDuffie made four throws and Shimizu knocked down a pair to cut into the deficit.
Kirsty Imai scored all seven of her points in the first half and UHH held the Sea Warriors to 31.3 percent shooting to lead 32-25 at the break.
Kamie Imai’s jumper to open the second half gave the Vulcans their largest lead, but HPU scored 32 of the next 42 points over a 14-minute span to seemingly take control.
“They shot the ball really well,” Kaneshiro said. “We played hard, we just didn’t execute offensively.”
Thoemmes had 13 points with 12 rebounds, Walmsley added eight rebounds and six assists and senior forward Heidi Anton made all three of her 3-pointers to register 11 points and seven rebounds.
UHH made just 4 of 21 shots from beyond the arc and shot 39.2 percent from the floor overall.
Junior forward Jazzmyn Davis chipped in with nine points, senior guard Shannon Rousseau added eight and Kamie Imai grabbed seven rebounds.
All of the Vulcans’ three games in Honolulu — the first two came during a split at the Oahu Classic — were decided by two points or less. Hawaii Pacific played games Wednesday and Friday.
“Give HPU credit,” Kaneshiro said. “They were tougher than we were. They beat us up on the boards (40-33). We’ll bounce back.
“We’ve shown some flashes over the last three games. Now we have to be a bit more consistent in our execution and think we’ll be fine.”
The Vulcans open Pacific West Conference play next Saturday at Dixie State.
UHH (2-2)
McDuffie, Jameia 2-4 7-10 11; Imai, Kamie 5-8 1-2 11; Davis, Jazzmyn 4-6 1-2
9; Rousseau, Shannon 3-9 0-0 8; Imai, Kirsty 3-8 0-0 7; Spain, Elise 2-4 2-2
6; Shimizu, Kirsten 1-8 2-3 5; Afusia, Jazlyn 0-1 2-2 2; Corpuz, Jazmine 0-0
0-0 0; Mata, Natalie 0-3 0-1 0. Totals 20-51 15-22 59.
HPU (4-2)
Walmsley, Susannah 7-16 3-5 18; Thoemmes, Mikela 6-12 1-2 13; Anton, Heidi
4-8 0-1 11; Nagy, Ieva 3-9 2-2 10; Gentry, Alli 2-8 0-0 5; Solomon, Shianne
0-4 4-4 4; LeGrande, Mayana 0-0 0-0 0; Duncan-Perry,Chiarra 0-0 0-0 0;
Navarro, Veanne 0-1 0-0 0; Hale, Brittany 0-1 0-0 0; Gurrola, Loren 0-0 0-0
0. Totals 22-59 10-14 61.
Halftime — UHH 32-25. 3-point goals—UHH-WBB 4-21 (Rousseau, Shannon 2-7; Imai, Kirsty 1-6;
Shimizu, Kirsten 1-5; Mata, Natalie 0-1; Davis, Jazzmyn 0-1; McDuffie,
Jameia 0-1), HPU (Anton, Heidi 3-3; Nagy, Ieva 2-5; Walmsley,
Susannah 1-5; Gentry, Alli 1-5; Hale, Brittany 0-1; Solomon, Shianne 0-4).
Fouled out—None. Rebounds—UHH 33 (Imai, Kamie 7), HPU 40 (Thoemmes, Mikela 12). Assists—UHH 9 (McDuffie, Jameia 3; Imai, Kirsty 3), HPU 13 (Walmsley, Susannah 6). Total fouls—UHH 13, HPU 18. Technical fouls—None.
