Box Score HONOLULU, HI (January 6, 2014)—The Hawai`i Pacific Women's Basketball Team (7-4, 3-2) dropped its second Pacific West Conference game of the season, falling 88-84 to visiting Dixie State (6-6, 4-2).

The two sides exchanged buckets throughout much of the first half as neither team could pull away.

Skye Savini got the Sea Warriors going with back-to-back three-pointers giving HPU a 29-23 lead with 8:13 to play in the opening half. A Red Storm turnover followed by another HPU three-pointer by Laken McClelland gave the Sea Warriors a nine-point lead.

The Red Storm would fight their way back to close out the half, eventually taking a 37-36 lead with 2:07 to play. DSU stretched its lead out to 10, but McClelland would find Morgan Comstock on a breakaway for the final basket of the half leaving the Sea Warriors with a 43-38 deficit.

HPU shot the ball well from the floor in the first half hitting 16-35 (45.7%) from the floor including an efficient 6-11 (54.5%) from three-point range. The Red Storm finished the half shooting 18-40 (45%) from the field and 1-7 (14.3%) from beyond the arc.

Like they did at the beginning of the first half, the two teams exchanged baskets until HPU made its move with 14:20 to play.

Nagy hit a wide open three-pointer in the corner after taking a feed from a driving Ingvild Skorpen to give the Sea Warriors a 53-52 lead. The Red Storm responded with a 5-0 run before McClelland hit a pair from the line to stop the bleeding.

HPU again took the lead with a Savini jumper off the glass followed by McClelland's steal and a breakaway layup by Brittany Hale. With 9:42 to play the Sea Warriors led 65-64. After a Red Storm three-second violation, McClelland and Hale drilled back-to-back three-pointers to give the Sea Warriors their biggest lead since the opening minutes at 71-64.

Not to be denied, the Red Storm fought their way back to tie the score at 73 with 4:38 to play and retook the lead on a layup with 4:15 remaining.

DSU stretched its lead out to five, but a big Loren Gurrola three-pointer with 2:59 to play cut the deficit to two.

HPU would retake the lead after a pair of free throws by Gurrola made it 82-81 with 1:20 to play. The Red Storm answered with a pair from the charity stripe on back-to-back possessions and the Sea Warriors again found themselves trailing 85-82. The two sides exchanged fast break layups leaving HPU with an 87-84 deficit with 28 seconds to play.

The Sea Warriors had a chance to tie the game after a Red Storm turnover on the fast break, but the shot rattled in and out. A DSU free throw gave it a four-point lead and iced the game for the Red Storm.
 
HPU finished the game hitting 30-77 (39%) from the floor including 11-26 (39%) from behind the arc. DSU hit 29-72 (40.3%) from the field and struggled from behind the arc only knocking down 2-14 (14.3%) from long range, but were an efficient 28-32 (87.5%) from the line.

Savini led the Sea Warriors with 19 points on 7-23 shooting. McClelland (16), Comstock (13), Shianne Solomon (13) and Ieva Nagy (11) each registered double-digit scoring nights for HPU.

Comstock led the way on the glass for HPU pulling down eight boards to go along with six assists and a block. McClelland registered six rebounds and added four assists to go along with her 16 points.

The Sea Warriors return to action Wednesday night at Neal Blaisdell Arena when they face Point Loma at 4:30 p.m.