They needed to be at their best and they weren’t.
First place Academy of Art University stormed into The Civic Thursday night and blew out the University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s team 86-53, improving the Urban Knights’ Pacific West Conference record to 8-0.
The men’s game finished after the Tribune-Herald’s deadline for the print edition.
“Pretty disappointed,” said Hilo coach David Kaneshiro. “This was one of those times when we really had to stay focused and execute and we weren’t able to do that, for whatever reason.”
Art U senior Jasmine Guinn, a first team all-conference selection a year ago, surprised nobody when she led both teams in scoring with 29 points, 10 above her average of 29.4, good for second in the conference.
Hilo never led in the game and the last brush with contention was at 7-5, three minutes into the game when freshman Patience Taylor dropped a 15-footer from the baseline, but the Vulcans then went 3:43 without a field goal while Art U built a lead from the foul line.
It was 21-13 after the first quarter when Guinn took over to open up the margin. She converted a 3-point play that boosted the lead to 24-16, then she had a 3-pointer backed up by a jumper on the next possession midway through the quarter for a 31-19 lead and after a 3-pointer by Hilo’s Kim Schmalz, Guinn responded with her third 3-pointer of the half, giving her 18 as the Urban Knights took a 43-27 advantage into the locker room.
“She didn’t surprise us,” Kansehiro said, “we knew all about her and she did what she always does.
“The frustrating part,” he said, “was that we talked a lot about this being a possession game, meaning we had to be able to battle of the boards — not give them all the rebounds — and we had to cut down on turnovers so we didn’t allow them extra possessions.”
That didn’t happen for the Vulcans, who fell to 2-4 in conference play and 2-9 overall. Art U dominated the backboards with a 21-9 advantage in offensive rebounds — enough for 12 more possessions — and wound up with a 51-35 edge on the boards.
Additionally, UH Hilo was guilty of 18 turnovers, seven more than Art U, and while both teams had 20 fouls, the Urban Knights made 17-of-22 from the foul line (77 percent), while the Vulcans were able to convert just 13-of-19 (68 percent).
“Give them credit,” Kaneshiro said, “that’s a good team that played well and while we knew they were good and worked at some things we thought we could do, the fact is we didn’t play well enough to beat a good team.
“It was going to be about rebounds and turnovers and we weren’t good in either category,” he said. “But we’ll go back to work and try to get better.”
Kim Schmelz led the Vulcans with 13 points.
Next up is Fresno Pacific — 0-8 in conference play after losing to BYU-Hawaii 82-71 Thursday night — which comes to The Civis Monday for a 5 pm game.
