HONOLULU – Hawai'i Pacific University came back from a finals break and never let cross-town rival Chaminade have a lead as they took the PacWest Conference women's game 88-62 on Saturday night at McCabe Gym.
 
The Sharks (5-2, 2-1) opened the game on a 7-0 run and took the Silverswords (0-4, 0-3) out the contest early on their way to the big win.
 
 "It was a good start and we kept up our energy the whole game," said HPU head coach Reid Takatsuka. "We got into some foul trouble, but I'm proud of the way our bench came through."
 
Despite being in foul trouble, senior forward Jessi Reeves of Coffs Harbour, Australia/John Paul, led the way for HPU with 16 points and seven rebounds. Junior guard Janessa Manzano of San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius, double-doubled with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while senior center Anna Mumm of Laguna Hills, Calif./Laguna Hills posted 10 points. Freshman forward Alysha Marcucci of Melbourne, Australia/Marist-Sion,, just missed a double-double with nine points, seven rebounds and a game-high three blocked shots. Freshman forward Jessica Harley of Melbourne, Australia/Caulfield, led both teams with 13 rebounds.
 
Chaminade got over half of its points from Destiny Castro, who collected 38 points with eight rebounds. Kali Benavente led the Swords with nine rebounds.
 
HPU shot 42 percent from the field (33-of-78), including 29 percent from the 3-point arc (8-of-28). The Sharks were 14-of-25 (56 percent) from the foul line. CUH shot 28 percent from the floor (16-of-57), with just 3-of-16 from the arc (19 percent) and 27-of-42 (64 percent) from the charity stripe. HPU almost doubled the Swords on the glass 63-to-35 and both teams turned the ball over nine times.
 
The Sharks got off to a solid start in the first quarter, with a jumper from Reeves to go with a 3-pointer and two free throws from Marcucci to jump out to a 7-0 lead and quickly extended it to a 14-4 advantage. The Swords trimmed the lead twice under 10. But when junior guard Samanthan Lambrigtsen of Oregon, Ill./Oregon got a fastbreak layup with 3:42 to play in the quarter HPU started a 12-3 run to close the quarter and never trailed by less double-digits again, with a 28-10 advantage at the end of the first.
 
The Sharks extended the lead to 21 in the second on a Marcucci triple, but the Swords made a run back as HPU got into some foul trouble. The Swords went on an 11-2 run to cut the HPU lead to 11 at 41-30 on a Castro 3-pointer with 46 seconds left in the half. HPU cut the run on a jumper in the lane by senior guard Spencer Gray of Centerville, Ohio/Centerville and the Swords added a free throw to make the score HPU 43-31 at the half.
 
HPU retook command in the third quarter, holding CUH to just six points while scoring 22 in the frame. After allowing a Diamond Carter free throw to open the period, HPU went on an 8-0 run and extended it to a 12-2 run on a jumper by Reeves for a 55-34 avantage and were never really challenged again.
 
HPU opened up its largest lead in the fourth quarter when freshman forward Makenna Gambee of Hillsboro, Ore./Hillsboro put back a missed 3-pointer to take a 30-point 67-37 lead. The Sharks freely substituted throughout the final frame and never trailed by less than 23 points before junior guard Brittany Allen of Richlands, Va./Richlands 3-pointer gave the Sharks their 88-62 final score.
 
The contest is a part of the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge.
 
HPU will play again on Thursday night at 7 p.m. when they host Douglas College of Canada at Moanalua High School Gym.