The BYU–Hawaii women’s basketball team started their 2015-2016 season with three straight wins against non-conference opponents, Alaska Fairbanks and back-to-back games against Arizona Christian.
A 31-point quarter by the Lady Seasiders in the second game of the back-to-back series against Arizona Christian gave the Lady Seasiders the 77-70 win. Valeriee Nawahine and Jiashan Cui led BYUH with 17 points each. Emily Nelson also had a huge game in the post with a double-double, grabbing 15 rebounds and scoring 14 points.
“This is a huge start for us and gives us confidence going forward and puts us on the right track to have an even better year than last year,” said red-shirt freshman Taryn Skahill, a TESOL major from Pflugerville, Texas.
Nawahine highlighted the first game against Arizona Christian with a double-double to lead the Lady Seasiders to a 79-63 win over Arizona Christian. Nawahine finished the night with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Claw, Cui, and Tyvetter White all scored double-figures for the Lady Seasiders.
“We couldn’t ask for a better way to start the season. There are some things we need to work on still but it was good to get the two W’s.” said Nawahine, a senior majoring in English from Laie, Hawaii.
Nawahine got things rolling for the Lady Seasiders after halftime as she hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 37 and spark an 8-0 by BYUH. The lady Seasiders would continue to build on their lead, getting up to as much as 16 points.
Arizona Christian was unable to mount any comeback, as the Lady Seasiders took the game 79-63. “Starting the season 2-0 is great and it has been really positive to see the depth that we have as a team over these two games,” said Cui, a senior business major from Beijing, China.
Against Alaska Fairbanks, Cui had a career night to lead the Lady Seasiders to a close 76-71 victory. Cui led all players with 25 points and going 13-13 from the free throw line. Celeste Claw added 19 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Along with a strong offensive performance, the Lady Seasiders played well defensively as they limited Alaska Fairbanks to 27.3 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from the three-point line.
After going into halftime with an eight point led, 38-30, the Lady Seasiders were able to maintain their lead through the third and most of the fourth quarter.
However, a run by Alaska Fairbanks tied the game at 61 apiece. BYUH responded as Cui hit a three pointer to once again give the Lady Seasiders the lead. Cui would hit another 3-pointer, as she sparked an 8-1 run down the stretch. The Lady Seasiders hit their free throws to close out the game 76-71.
The Lady Seasiders come into the 2015-2016 off of last years historic season, finishing with a program best 15-12 record. Along with the best record in school history that Lady Seasiders finished 6th in conference and made the PacWest Conference tournament, where they lost to Point Loma in the first round. In the preseason PacWest rankings BYUH was predicted to finish 6th.
The Lady Seasiders feature returning starters Celeste Claw and Emily Nelson, along with Mata Tonga, Cui and Kijrsten Nelson, all who received significant minutes last year. Over the off-season the Lady Seasiders added transfers Nawahine from University of Utah, Taylor Jackson and Tyvette White from Citrus College.
Along with the transfers BYU–Hawaii added freshman Maia Watene from Australia, Taylor Tollestrup from San Diego, Lau Hafoka from Lahaina, Hawaii, and Kendall Smiler from Hamilton, New Zealand.