The UH-Hilo women’s basketball team competed without its best player, Kim Schmelz (ankle injury), but played hard and had physical effort against Chaminade, a 5-19 squad last season.
The Vulcans get enough production from others to hold off the Silverswords 58-53 in a PacWest road game on Wednesday night on Oahu, earning their first win.
Senior forward Asia Smith, who redshirted last season, scored 13 points, Alexa Jacobs 11 and Patience Taylor 10 to lead the Vuls (1-2, 1-0 PacWest), who shot 42 percent, including 3 of 15 from long distance.
UHH, which led 29-22 at halftime, also overcame 21 turnovers, one more than Chaminade (0-3, 0-1), which shot 36 percent from the floor, including 7 of 15 from 3-point range.
Sometimes, playing hard and having physical effort are difference-makers, UHH coach David Kaneshiro pointed out.
“We played hard. I liked the physical effort,” he said. “I’m happy for the team. We got our points in the flow of the offense. Patience worked hard on defense and did a good job on No. 25 (Lilia Maio), their best player.”
Maio, a 5-foot-10 senior forward, scored nine points on 4 of 11 shooting. Last year, she received All-PacWest honorable mention and averaged 14.8 points per game; she was the only Silversword or Vulcan to receive any recognition.
The UH-Hilo men lost 95-70, allowing the Silverswords to shoot nearly 60 percent.
Coming off three losses to Division I teams at the Maui Classic, Chaminade (3-3, 1-0 PacWest) blitzed the Vulcans with 57-33 second half.
Ryley Callaghan scored 14 points for the Vulcans (1-4, 0-1), who have lost four in a row.
UH-Hilo trailed 45-43 early in the second half, but the Silverswords went on a 7-0 run and their lead was never below double digits after Dantley Walker hit a 3-pointer with 10:03 remaining.
Parker Farris and Brian Ishola each scored 13 points for UH-Hilo. Farris struggled from the field (4 for 12).
With Rohndell Goodwin posting 21 points and 10 boards, Chaminade held a 45-29 rebounding advantage.
