The BYU–Hawaii women’s basketball team got their first conference victory against visiting in-state rival Chaminade Silverswords, 85-63, on Dec. 19.
A big third quarter where the Lady Seasiders outscored the Silverswords 29-6 proved to be the difference. Valerie Nawahine led the Lady Seasiders with a double-double, 15 points and 10 rebounds.
“Team did great tonight, we battled back hard and deserved this win,” said Nawahine, a senior English major from Laie, Hawaii. “I am just glad that I was able to help my team get this win.”
BYU–Hawaii had a much better showing offensively and defensively as the dominated the boards, outrebounding Chaminade 52-46 and out scoring the Silverswords 32-28.
The Lady Seasiders also recorded 14 steals, which they converted into 22 points. Jianshan Cui lead an effective BYU–Hawaii bench scoring 15 points. The Lady Seasiders’ bench outscored Chaminade’s bench 30-16.
“The bench did a great job tonight, we came in with a lot of intensity and kept the pressure on Chaminade,” said Cui, a senior business major from Beijing, China.
Despite being up early after a pair of 3-pointers by Cui, the Lady Seasiders saw their lead disappear as the Silverswords went on a 12-point run that put them up 12 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Seasiders played better defensively in the second quarter, limiting the Silverwords to only 15 points. However, the Lady Seasiders were unable to mount any significant runs as they went into halftime still down by 12.
BYU–Hawaii came out in the third quarter with a 7-point run and would eventually take ta one point lead, 42-41, as Celeste Claw hit a 3-pointer. After both teams were tied at 46 the Lady Seasiders blew the game open with a 15-0 run that was caped by Kjirsten Nelson, who hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“Things just started to click for us both offensively and defensively, we came out in the second half with a lot of intensity because we did not want to start conference off 0-3,” said Nelson, a senior history major from Gunnison, Colorado.
With the game in their hands and all the momentum the Lady Seasiders continued to push in the fourth quarter with a 10-3 run that pushed the lead to 24. Four consecutive points by Taylor Jackson gave BYU–Hawaii its’ largest lead, 25.
The Lady Seasiders would go on to close out the game and win 85-63.
The win breaks a two game skid, including the Lady Seasiders’ loss to Hawaii Pacific University three nights before, 57-42.
BYU–Hawaii will now face visiting non-conference opponent Penn before going on a road trip at the start of January to Northern California.
On the road trip the Lady Seasiders will face Dominican, Fresno Pacific and Holy Names.