With a slew of fresh faces, Pacific West Conference women’s basketball coaches expect to see UH-Hilo slip a little.
With a slew of fresh faces, Pacific West Conference women’s basketball coaches expect to see UH-Hilo slip a little.
The Lady Vulcans were selected to finish 10th the preseason poll Thursday, and no UH-Hilo players secured all-league consideration.
Cal Baptist was tabbed to finish first, garnering 10 of 14 first-place votes. The Lancers, who finished PacWest runner-up last year before making a run to NCAA Division II championship game and finishing second, had three players make the all-PacWest team.
Azusa Pacific senior forward Kelly Hardeman was named Preseason Player of the Year.
UH-Hilo (10-14, 9-11) finished eighth last season and graduated most of its contributors.
1. California Baptist (10) 191
2. Azusa Pacific (2) 173
3. Academy of Art (1) 153
4. Hawaii Pacific (1) 150
5. Point Loma 149
6. BYU-Hawaii 108
6. Concordia 108
8. Dominican 103
9. Dixie State 90
10. UH-Hilo 75
11. Fresno Pacific 58
12. Chaminade 57
13. Notre Dame de Namur 31
14. Holy Names 24
Sawada closes with 78
UH-Hilo senior Kristen Sawada finished with a 6-over 78 to finish at 12-over 298 at the Rainbow Wahine Invitational in Wahiawa, Oahu.
The Vulcans played their best round (322) and finished last among 14 teams at 122-over 986.
Brigham Young’s Rose Huang closed with a 70 and pocked a one-shot win at 3-under in the 84-player field, leading the Cougars (863) to the team title.
Also for the Vulcans, Andi Igawa (83) tied for 69th at 25-over; Shantel Antonio (84) carded a 40-over and was 81st; Alison Tengan (97) was 82nd at 45-over; Mariah Paiste (92) shot 62-over in 83rd; playing unnatached, Kimberly Katayama (93) was another shot back in 84th.