Honolulu, HI (November 24, 2012)- Mikela Thoemmes registered a double-double and Susannah Walmsley added 18 points as the Hawai'i Pacific (4-2) women's basketball team defeated inter-island rival Hawai'i Hilo (2-2) by the score of 61-59, in a non-conference tune up.

Playing in their third game in four days, the Sea Warriors jumped out to an early 13-9 lead after Walmsley put back an offensive rebound just five and a half minutes in to the first half. The Vulcans would answer however, going on a 9-0 run over the next five minutes to jump out to an 18-13 lead. The rest of the first half would be a back and forth affair but the Vulcans took momentum towards the end of the half, scoring five points over the last minute to take a 32-25 lead to the break.

After shooting just 31.3% from the field at the break, the Sea Warriors answered with a strong shooting performance in the second half. The Vulcans extended their lead to nine early in the second period but the Sea Warriors would begin to chip away from there. Heidi Anton would come off the bench to hit a three pointer at 13:20 to tie the game and Walmsley would nail a free throw a minute later to give HPU its first lead since the 11:52 mark in the first half. The momentum would fully swing in the Sea Warriors direction when the Aussies sharpshooters, Ieva Nagy and Walmsley, nailed back-to-back-to-back three pointers in the span of 80 seconds.

The game appeared to be in hand after Thoemmes grabbed her fifth offensive rebound of the game and put it back to push HPU's lead to 59-46. Not to be denied, Hilo rattled off 13 points in a row over the final four minutes, tying the game at 59 after a three pointer by Vulcan guard Kirsten Shimisu with 44 seconds remaining. With the game tied Nagy missed on a three pointer but Anton was able to secure the offensive rebound. Rather than take a time out, Walmsley went for the back breaker and hit a jumper from the elbow to give the Sea Warriors the lead with 14 seconds on the clock. Shimisu would get one last shot for Hilo, but the Sea Warrior defense held strong, forcing a tough shot that the Vulcans would miss.

The game would finish as a tale of two halves. HPU shot 10-32 (31.3%) from the field in the first half but managed a respectable 12-27 (44.4) in the second. Most impressively the Sea Warriors improved drastically from distance hitting 5-11 (45.5%) in the second half versus 2-12 (16.7%) in the first. The Sea Warriors finished with four players in double figures with Nagy finishing with 10 and Anton adding 11, to go with Thoemmes 13 and Walmsley's 18.  Walmsley would also add a game high six assists and pull in eight boards in the winning effort.

The game marked the end of the pre-conference portion to the schedule as HPU jumps in to PacWest play on December 1st against BYU-Hawai'i at Cannon Activities Center in Laie. The game time is now scheduled for a 12 PM tip-off.