There would be no happy ending for UH-Hilo and Patience Taylor, Amber Vaughn, and Alyssa Movchan on senior night against Chaminade, which did just enough to play spoiler.
The Silverswords defeated the Vulcans 75-67 on Saturday night at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, putting a damper on the last game of the season.
The Vulcans shot just 28 percent from the field, including 2 of 20 from 3-point range. The only thing that kept UHH relatively close was free throw shooting. The Vuls made 29 of 36 from the free throw line.
It wasn’t the type of performance each UHH senior anticipated. Taylor scored 11 points on 4 of 10 shooting. Movchan had six points on 1 of 9 shooting, and Vaughn had two points on 1 of 11 shooting.
As usual, Allie Navarette carried the scoring load. She finished with 31 points on 8 of 14 shooting, including 14 of 16 on free throws. She added a double-double with 12 rebounds for the Vuls (8-18, 5-17).
The game was a matchup between two of the PacWest’s top scorers. Navarette entered with a 19.7 points per game average while Chaminade Destiny Castro averaged 19.8 ppg.
Casto splashed 27 points on 9 f 18 shooting for the Silverswords (7-19, 6-16 PacWest), who shot 38 percent from the field, including 6 of 20 from long distance. Chaminade went 23 of 32 from the free throw line.
Taylor is a four-year Vulcan, Vaughn a Hilo High graduate and Taft College (Calif.) transfer, and Movchan a junior college transfer.
UHH coach David Kaneshiro remembered his senior trio for more what they brought off the court.
“They’re a great group, great people,” he said. “I’ll miss coaching them. They’re just so pleasant to be around. I’m proud of all of them. I’m going to miss them a lot.”
Before the game started, Navarrate already broke two of her own school records: Points scored: 504, previous record 383 in 2017-18 and season average: 19.7, previous record 16.7 last season.
The Vulcans suffered a severe cold spell in the second quarter, shooting just 2 of 21 from the field and getting outscored 13-3. That led to a 31-20 deficit at halftime.
It’s not as if the Silverswords are one of the top defending teams in the conference. In fact, they’re 10th in points allowed, 70.9 ppg, three spots behind UHH.
Navarette carried the scoring load with 10 points in the first half then blew up in the second half with 21 points on 4 of 7 shooting and 12 of 12 free throws.
Castro scored 13 points in the first half, getting nine in the second period. She beat the defense down the court for a transition layup, got fouled and made the free throw. She also hit an elbow jump shot and sank 4 of 4 free throws before halftime.
Hunter Liftee, a Honokaa graduate, added seven points in the first half for the Silverswords. Liftee was a key figure on Honokaa’s 2014 Division II state title team. Liftee finished with nine points.
The Vulcans started to make a nice comeback in the third quarter, sinking 13 of 14 free throws, without burning the clock. But their defense made two costly fouls.
With two seconds on the shot clock, Michaella Dean was fouled and buried both free throws for a 47-37 lead with 21.3 left in the third quarter.
One possession later, Cheyenne Ardona was fouled with 3.8 seconds left and drilled both free throws for a 49-37 cushion heading into the fourth quarter.
