If you didn’t know any better, you might think the UH-Hilo women’s lineup from game-to-game is a result of some merciless game of musical chairs.
If you didn’t know any better, you might think the UH-Hilo women’s lineup from game-to-game is a result of some merciless game of musical chairs.
On an almost daily basis, basketball coach David Kaneshiro has had to adjust practices and his playing rotation in reaction to player injuries. There have been concussions, twisted ankles, a broken thumb, knee injuries, the list goes on and on.
The latest might hurt the most, both for player and team. Senior guard Vanessa Mancera, who played her junior season on a torn right ACL, then had surgery on it in the offseason, tore her left ACL on the recent road trip against California Baptist and will end her college career on the bench. She had been working mostly from the point guard position in recent games and was second on the team with 17 3-pointers.
“It’s a really tough thing, no question,” Kaneshiro said. “It’s just hard to see someone work so hard and then have something like this happen. The team is totally supporting her and she is supporting them, calling out help from the sidelines, encouraging everybody, doing everything she can without being able to play.”
The Vulcans (5-12; 5-9 PWC) have an outside shot to match or exceed last season’s record of 10-15 and 10-10 in conference play, but to finish better, they will have to win all six remaining games, while a 5-1 record would equal the 2015-16 record.
They can get off to a good start in that direction when they play Fresno Pacific (5-17; 2-12 PWC), Thursday in the campus gym, with a 5 p.m. tipoff. The Vulcans swept the Sunbirds last year, winning at home in an early season game that snapped a two-game losing streak, then they won at Fresno in a game in which Mancera contributed 12 points.
Sophomore Kim Schmelz leads the team in scoring with 14.2 points a game ands senior Sydney Mercer is the only other teammate in double figures, averaging 11.2 per game.
UHH should be able to get some offense going against FPU, which ranks 296th nationally (out of 308 DII schools), in opponents field goal percentage, allowing opponents to score on 45 percent of their attempts. The Sunbirds are also ranked 302 in rebounding margin, surrendering an average of minus 12.2 boards to their opponents.
After Fresno Pacific, the Vulcans play BYU-Hawaii, a team they beat earlier in the season behind 28 points from Schmelz and 15 from Mancera. That game tips off at 5 p.m. at Afook-Chinen Auditorium.