Many may look at Douglas College and think “Who?”
But it’s not the who that’s most important to UH-Hilo’s women’s basketball team when it takes the court at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium against the Royals of British Columbia, Canada – it’s the what.
In this case, the Vulcans get their first chance to get the bad taste of a tough defeat out of its mouth and the last opportunity to get some work in before the Division II-mandated winter dead period takes effect.
An on-again, off-again schedule has seen the Vulcans (2-3) play just five times since tipping off Nov. 10. That’s far fewer games than all but one of its Pacific West Conference brethren, and hardly enough court time for coach David Kaneshiro to get all his new players in rhythm and fitting comfortable into their new roles, much less give a progress report.
It’s hard to tell, he said, “We’ve only played five games. I think we’re getting better. We like our group.
“I’m not sure if playing a couple of more games would have helped us. We’re coming along and improving. We just need to be more consistent.”
Inconsistency, namely missed free throws and turnovers, plagued the short-handed Vulcans at crunch time in Saturday night’s 69-67 loss at Chaminade, a game they led by three in the final minute, allowing the Silverswords to walk away with their first victory.
Leading returning scorer Kim Schmelz missed her third consecutive game after suffering a knee injury in practice, and Kaneshiro said the junior guard would sit out against Douglas.
“We’ve had a couple of practices to work on things that we didn’t do well on both ends of the floor (against Chaminade),” Kaneshiro said. “Hopefully, we can correct those a do a little better (Tuesday night).”
When at full strength, the Vuls have the potential for a dynamic duo in the backcourt, and senior transfer Safia Sheikh has held up her end of the bargain so far, averaging a team-leading 15.4 points per game. Freshman Allie Navarette, a 6-footer, has flashed as well, taking advantage of the undersized Silverswords to score a career-high 21 points.
In averaging 12.4 points and 6.2 rebounds, Navarette has made 22 of her past 24 free throws.
“Allie has done a good job,” Kaneshiro said. “Chaminade is smaller and she was able to get inside.
“Douglas is different. They are bigger than we are with good balance. It should be good challenge.”
Kaneshiro hasn’t been able to gather a whole of other intel on the Royals of the Pacific Western Athletic Association beyond a 80-44 loss Thursday at Hawaii Pacific in which Douglas was steamrolled in the second half and finished with 30 turnovers.
Rachel Beauchamp, 5-10 and daughter of coach Steve Beauchamp, and the 5-11 Nanaya Miki each score in double figures on average.
Starting Wednesday, Division II teams take a break until Dec. 27, and the Vulcans won’t return to the court until Jan. 3 at home against Notre Dame de Namur.