UH-Hilo hung around for a while, but not nearly long enough to scare No. 1.
UH-Hilo hung around for a while, but not nearly long enough to scare No. 1.
Emporia State, the top-ranked team in Division II, pulled away Friday from the winless Vulcans midway through the second quarter en route to an 82-53 victory in Laie, Oahu.
Lauren Hong was the only player to reach double-figures for UH-Hilo (0-5), shooting 5 of 15 for 15 points.
“I thought we played well for much of the first half,” coach David Kaneshiro said. “We struggled a bit and had some empty possessions, and they got some easy ones.”
Kelsey Barnwell led the Lady Hornets (6-0) with 21 points, three steals and three assists.
UH-Hilo trailed 20-16 after the first quarter, and freshman Kim Schmelz’s free throw cut the deficit to three with 6:36 left in the first half. Emporia responded with a 14-6 run to close the quarter and it went on an 11-0 spurt in the third quarter.
“I think we got warn down having to play two games two days,” Kaneshiro said.
Coming off a career-high 25-point performance Thursday against Armstrong State, Schmelz struggled on 3-of-13 shooting and finished with eight.
Ka’u graduate Pilialoha Kailiawa finished with eight points and four rebounds for the Lady Vuls, and Waiakea graduate Keani Shirai had five assists. Kailiawa all three of her shots and knocked down two 3-pointers.
The Lady Hornets, who reached the final four last season, shot better than 50 percent – despite only making 8 of 27 from 3-point range – and won the rebounding battle 39-25.
The Vulcans are being outscored by an average of 35.6 points during this season, but they have time to regroup and start anew before their Pacific West Conference opener Dec. 10 at Chaminade.
“I’ve seen improvement the last two games and I feel like we’re coming together,” Kaneshiro said. “We have a couple of weeks to tighten things up.”
Hawaii 74, Cal State Bakersfield 60: Ashleigh Karaitiana scored 19 points with six rebounds to guide UH to 74-60 victory against Cal State Bakersfield at the Rainbow Wahine Shootout in Honolulu.
Megan Huff collected 11 points and 12 rebounds as the Rainbow Wahine controlled the boards at a 46-31 clip.
UH made only one 3-pointer, but it held the Roadrunners to 32.3 percent shooting.
Earlier, A’ja Wilson made two free throws with 0.6 seconds left to give No. 2 South Carolina a 60-58 victory against No. 16 Arizona State.
UH plays the Sun Devils at 4 p.m. Saturday and finishes with the Gamecocks on Sunday.