And on Saturday, they rested.
Back-to-back home victories did nothing to generate the kind of energy the University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s basketball team needed from the very start of its Pacific West Conference game against Hawaii Pacific at The Civic.
Instead, the Sharks (7-3 PWC, 10-7 overall), having lost back-to-back games at home last week, started off with a forcible presence at both ends of the court, ran out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back to earn a 71-40 victory over the Vulcans (4-5, 4-10).
The defeat left Hawaii Hilo 2-2 on its five-game home stand, with the concluding game coming Monday against conference power California Baptist.
Hawaii Pacific led from wire-to-wire after a 10-0 start that included six points from leading scorer Breanna Mackenzie who finished with a game-high 23 on 9-of-19 from the floor, teammate Aminata Cole had 10, to go with eight rebounds. Vanessa manicure led the Vulcans with 12, Sydney Mercer added 11.
“They always concern me because they play so hard,” said Hawaii Pacific coach Reid Takatsuka, “but we played well today and I was a little worried about how we came out.”
Takatsuka thought his team’s two-game losing streak and UH Hilo’s two game win streak may have played into the outcome.
“We came out a little bit desperate,” he said, “that could have played in our favor.”
“I don’t know about that,” said Vulcans’ coach David Kaneshiro. “That could have been true for them, but it’s no excuse for us. Give them credit, they outplayed us, pretty much from start to finish.”
Hawaii Hilo was without starting guard Lauren Hong, a junior who played Thursday night. She was in street clothes and, when asked about the injury Kaneshiro said, “She has an injury, that’s all I can say.”
The undisclosed injury may keep her out of Monday’s game as well. “I don’t know,” Kaneshiro said. “She might be able to play, she might not. I can’t say.”
One thing that was clear to all in attendance, the Vulcans didn’t do enough at either end to have a chance to win this game.
UH Hilo entered the game last in the PWC in field goal percentage, making just .329 of its shots before the game Saturday and that number will plunge further after the Vulcans made just 13 of 55 attempts for 23.6 percent to go with only 57.1 percent from the foul line where they were 12-for-21. To cap off a forgettable afternoon, the Vulcans made just 2-of-16 3-point shots.
