To play the best, it’s important to be at your best, and for a long stretch, the University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s basketball team was up to the task Monday night agains sixth-ranked Cal Baptist.
To play the best, it’s important to be at your best, and for a long stretch, the University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s basketball team was up to the task Monday night agains sixth-ranked Cal Baptist.
Over 40 minutes though, the Lancers (10-1 in the Pacific West Conference, 18-1 overall), were the better team, taking care of the ball and using a deep bench that eventually sunk the Vulcans, 71-60 Monday night at Hilo Civic, closing out the five-game homestead for UH-Hilo, dropping it to its second consecutive defeat.
The Vulcans (4-6, 4-11) finished 2-3 on the five-game stretch at home and will now head to Northern California for four road games with a hint of what they might be able to accomplish if they can build on this game.
The top 3-point shooting team in the conference, averaging .394 on shots from beyond the arc, Cal Baptist was held to just 11.5 percent on 3-for-26, its worst effort of the season.
“Yeah, said Cal Baptist coach Jarrod Olson, looking at the numbers, “we usually make those, at least more than we did tonight.
“You can see what a good job Dave (Kaneshiro, Hilo women’s coach), does coaching them,” Olson said. “They were really well prepared and they gave us fits. I feel like we were fortunate to get out here with a win, we surely didn’t play very well, but a lot of that was because of (the Vulcans)
Hawaii-Hilo ran off to a 7-2 lead and were ahead 12-8 with 1:46 left in the first quarter after Sydney Mercer scored the first of two reverse layups down the baseline for a 16-12 lead, but the Lancers then scored eight unanswered points to close out the quarter with a 16-12 lead.
The Lancers won their 11th consecutive game by taking advantage of 18 UH-Hilo turnovers, converting those into 17 points, but the Vulcans kept working, kept staying within range and freshman Kim Schmelz gave them a late lift when they trailed 65-50 inside the final four minutes. Schmelz hit a mid-range jumper, then scored on a layup and knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 65-57 game with 2:34 left, but they couldn’t get any closer the rest of the way.
“We didn’t care of the ball the way we need to,” Kaneshiro said, “but I’m proud of our team, that’s a very good team and I’m proud of the way we competed, we battled them all the way; we had a couple dry spells when they got some points, but we kept coming back.
“At the end,” he said, “as the game wore on, we just couldn’t get over the hump, but this is the kind of effort we can build on.”
Mercer led the Vulcans in scoring with 17, Schmelz had 13 off the bench. Felicia Kolb had nine rebounds for UHH, Mercer and Schmelz each had eight.