Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
The University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s basketball team shot a season-low 26 percent from the field, and fell to St. Martin’s 59-45 in a nonconference game Friday night to open a two-game series.
The Vulcans (2-4) and Saints (6-3) play again at 5 p.m. today at UHH gym.
McKenzie Mangino scored eight points to lead UHH, but she made just 3 of 8 shots from the floor. Kamie Imai and Kirstie Williams each had seven points, but also struggled, converting 3 of 11 and 3 of 12 shots, respectively.
One of UHH coach David Kaneshiro’s major takeaways: while he didn’t necessarily see lethargy, his team lacked energy.
“Our attitude wasn’t poor, but we were just waiting for something good to happen,” Kaneshiro said. “Saint Martin’s did a lot of attacking.”
Imai gathered a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Vuls also had a tough night from 3-point range, going 4 of 16. At least, they converted 9 of 11 free throws.
The Saints made only 3 of 11 free throws, but offset that with a solid 40 percent shooting percentage (25 of 62).
Chelsea Haskey scored 18 points on 8 of 16 shooting to lead St. Martins, which led 32-22 at halftime. Brooke Paulson came off the bench and added 15 points.
Haskey hit a layup to give the Saints a 55-35 lead with 6:29 remaining. That 20-point gap was the biggest of the game.
“We need to be more aggressive and have the energy to get stops and be more assertive,” Kaneshiro said.
The Vulcans had an equally bad start and finish, committing three straight turnovers out of the gate, and missing their last six shots.
“We didn’t play our best, but they had a lot to do with that,” Kaneshiro said. “They played tougher than we did, quicker to the ball. They did a good job of pushing our post players.”