Uploaded 2/26/2015The BYU-Hawaii women’s basketball team rebounded from a losing streak with back-to-back wins Feb. 20 and Feb. 23. The Lady Seasiders defeated visiting University of Hawaii-Hilo in a nail-bitter 63-60 and then defeated Holy Names comfortably 84-73. With the two wins, the Lady Seasiders took one step closer to clinching an appearance in the PacWest Conference tournament.Despite not having leading scorer Brydgette Tatupu, who suffered a broken wrist last Saturday, Feb. 21, the Lady Seasiders came out strong against Holy Names. Jiashan Cui, starting in place of Tatupu, had a big game for the Lady Seasiders scoring 16 points and shooting 4-6 from beyond the arch.Celeste Claw also was huge offensively for the Lady Seasiders, leading the team with 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. “Each game was important for us because our goal is getting into the conference tournament so we are able to have a rematch against teams we didn’t play well against,” said Claw, a senior in exercise science from Arizona. “Both games were important but now this upcoming game will be the most important one.”Kjirsten Nelson, Whitney Fieldsted, and Mata Tonga each had big games and dominated the boards as the Lady Seasiders outdid Holy Names in rebounds 49-24.Whitney Fieldsted recorded another double-double scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Fieldsted, a senior physical education major from Utah, said, “I feel the team really stepped up, obviously it was a concern not having Brydgette, but we pulled together, distributed the ball and stepped it up as a team.”Marquessa Gilson had a big second-half scoring all 12 of her points in the second half.The Seasiders play Academy of Art on Feb. 26 at home in the Cannon Activities Center.
Writer: Matthew Roberts
