The UH-Hilo women’s basketball team lost to Biola 67-55 on Tuesday night in La Mirada, Calif., where a wave of the PacWest top teams continue to push the Vulcans down in the standings.
Bree Olson scored 16 points on 8 of 12 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds as the only productive player for the Vulcans (7-5, 4-4 PacWest), who shot 36% from the field and hit 0 of 15 from 3-point range.
Nikki Miller and Jenna Waki each scored seven points, Mandi Kawaha and Heaven Samayoa-Mathis added seven points each for UHH, which was outscored 23-10 in the second quarter and trailed 41-26 at halftime.
Amiah Simmons, a 5-foot-9 freshman guard, scored 19 points on 5 of 11 shooting, and Jordan Rabe, a 6-1 forward, added 14 points on 7 of 9 shooting to lead the Eagles (10-5, 6-2), who shot 43% from the floor, including 8 of 22 from long distance.
The Vulcans have lost three straight, to No. 1 Azusa Pacific (79-57), No. 4 Concordia (68-51), and No. 3 Biola. They play No. 7 Point Loma, one spot behind UHH in the standings, on Thursday and close against Biola again on Saturday.
Point Loma’s top two scorers are 5-10 guard Cara Liggina (13.8 and 8.4 rebounds per game) and 5-9 forward Haylee Saurette (12.9 ppg, 7.6 rpg).
Kawaha leads the team in scoring (15.8 ppg), and Miller averages nearly a double-double (9.9 ppg, 9.7 rpg).
The Eagles joined the PacWest during the 2017-18 season and have been trending upward. That season they were 12-12, went 19-11 in 2019-2020, and 4-9 during the COVID-19 2020-21 season.
UHH’s main goal is climb the standings and avoid Azusa Pacific (13-1, 9-0) in the eight-team PacWest tournament, scheduled March 3-5 in Fresno, Calif.
The No. 3 UHH men (10-6, 6-3) play at N0. 4 Point Loma 10-8, 6-4) Thursday in San Diego.
Kaden Anderson, the PacWest preseason player of the year, leads the Sea Lions in scoring and rebounding (22.7 ppg, 8.6 rpb).
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (18.6 ppg, 8.8 rpg), Donald McHenry (15.6 ppg) and Darren Williams (14.4 ppg) lead the Vulcans, who are first in PacWest scoring (80.4 ppg) while the Sea Lions are second (79.6 ppg).