Dave Kaneshiro breathed a sigh of relief Saturday night, but it had little to with him. ADVERTISING Dave Kaneshiro breathed a sigh of relief Saturday night, but it had little to with him. Freshman Kim Schmelz scored 18 of her
Dave Kaneshiro breathed a sigh of relief Saturday night, but it had little to with him.
Freshman Kim Schmelz scored 18 of her 19 points in the second half to pace the University of Hawaii at Hilo to its first victory of the season, 72-61 against BYU-Hawaii in Laie, Oahu.
“It’s great,” Kaneshiro sad, “but probably the biggest feeling is I’m happy for our players. They persevered.”
The Vulcans(1-6, 1-1 Pacific West Conference) trailed by two at halftime, but Lauren Hong’s jumper gave them the lead for good and Schmelz hit back-to-back 3-pointers as UH-Hilo started to assert itself.
After going 0 for 6 from the floor in the first half, Schmelz hit four 3s in the second half. Hong and Sydney Mercer each finished with 16. Playing in her second game of the season, Alexa Jacobs had 13.
“Kim showed good mental toughness and gave us some confidence,” Kaneshiro said.
She also grabbed six rebounds, but the Vulcans continue to get hammered on the boards. The Sea Warriors held a 59-37 advantage.
“Our rebounding is terrible,” Kaneshiro said.
That will be a point of emphasis for the Vulcans as they get a break of more than three weeks.
“We aren’t satisfied yet,” Kaneshiro said.
Jiashian Cui led BYU-Hawaii (3-3, 0-1) with 18 points.
The Vulcans got 33 points from their bench and made a season-low 10 turnovers
Men 0-7
The UH-Hilo men’s team wasn’t able to get off the schneid, falling 110-78 at BYU-Hawaii.
Jordan Russell had a season-high 20 points for the Vulcans (0-7 overall, 0-3 PacWest), making six 3-pointers, but the Seasiders shot better than 58 percent, including 14 of 23 on 3-pointers.
The Vulcans were 14 of 27 from 3-point range and they kept up for a while before wilting midway thought the second half.
Wilson’s 3 brought UH-Hilo within 74-70, but Corey Lange nailed two from beyond the arc to give BYU-Hawaii (5-2, 2-0) its first double-digit lead.
The Seasiders put six scores in double figures, led by Justin Yamzon with 23 on 8-of-12 shooting from the field with five 3-pointers. Ian Harward added 20 points and 10 rebounds while Scott Friel had 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Nate Walker posted a season-high 19 points for the Vulcans and Patrick Ball and Van Lockett finished with 14 and 11, respectively.
