President’s Day is a day off for a lot of people, but it was never intended to be that for college basketball teams with games on the schedule.
It took two quarters for the University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s team to get the message, but when they finally got the wakeup call, they made up for lost time and used a 49-point second half to carve out a 70-59 come-from-behind win over Notre Dame de Namur at The Civic.
(The men’s game between the Vuls and Argonauts finished after the Trib’s early print deadline. To read the story, visit www.hawaiitribune-herald.com.)
The victory, combined with a Point Loma Nazarene loss, lifted the Vulcans to 9-7 in the Pacific West Conference (9-12 overall), one game removed from a playoff berth while the Argonauts, swept this season by UHH, closed out their road trip with a sixth consecutive defeat as their record fell to 2-15 and 3-22 overall.
It was a continuation of Hawaii Hilo comeback victories and there was a long stretch in the first half when it appeared NDNU was the better prepared and more focused team.
“We were making our shots in the first half,” said Notre Dame coach Sheila Adams, “but in the second half we ended up playing their game and when you only score 19 points in a half, it’s going to be hard to win.”
The Argos were able to make only five field goals in the second half.
“Some of that was them missing some chippies,” said Hawaii Hilo coach David Kaneshiro, “but we had something to do with it, too. At halftime, there wasn’t much to say, I just pointed out the obvious, we had to work harder, be more aggressive, those kind of things, but it wasn’t anything I said, it was what they did out there.”
Senior Felicia Kolb has perhaps her best game of the season, finishing with 22 points on 9-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-5 from the foul line.
“We just came out kind of slow,” Kolb said. “I don’t know if it was us being complacent because we had already beaten them, or if it was them wanting to take it to us.”
She said she wasn’t looking for her shot necessarily, it was her teammates finding the hot hand.
“My job is to work hard and to try to bring that intensity out of my teammates,” Kolb said. “Tonight, my shot was going in and it just turned out they were the ones getting the ball to me.”
Freshman Kim Schmelz had 18 points, including 4-for-4 from beyond the 3-point line.
“It seemed like we weren’t ready at the start,” Schmelz said. “At halftime. coach said to get on the boards and start playing our game again and we did; we have really played together much better lately than we did at the start of the season.”
The Vulcans opened the third quarter with a 13-2 start to get back in the game as Kolb, Schmalz and Lauren Hong each had 3-pointers. Schmelz had two free throws to draw Hilo to a 50-49 deficit and then Hong scored on a layup, then added two free throws for a 53-50 lead. Sydney Mercer’s layup made it 55-50 and Schmelz connected on her fourth 3-pointer for a 58-50 lead and that was the beginning of the end for NDNU.
Hawaii Hilo was out hustled from the very outset after a quick 5-2 lead when Notre Dame de Namur ran off a 20-3 run for a 22-8 lead that only grew larger. The Vulcans’ interior defense was virtually non-existent and their eight turnovers resulted in 14 points for the Argonauts.
NDNU held four leads of 17 points in the first half, the last on two free throws by Savannah Selby that made it 38-21 at the half.
Kirsten Liana, Notre Dame’s 5-foot-10 forward from Honolul;u’s Farrington High School, had 12 points, seven rebounds and dished out three assists in her last collegiate game on the Big Island. She finished with 18.
Close to the playoffs for the first time this season, Kaneshiro admitted it’s been discussed.
“Sure, we’ve talked about it,” he said. “But regardless of what position we’re in, thinking about the playoffs isn’t going to help us win game, that stuff can be a distraction, but if we keep our efforts on improving every day, that’s what will help.”
