HILO, Hawai'i – No. 21 Hawai'i Pacific University won a share of the 2018 PacWest Conference Championship on Saturday night with a 66-50 triumph over Hawai'i Hilo at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
 
The No. 21 Sharks (24-3, 18-2) collected their third PacWest Championship in 2018, sharing it with Azusa Pacific. HPU adds it to the titles won in 2010 and 2015. The Vulcans (7-16, 5-15) ended their season with the loss.
 
 "I can't be any prouder of the team than I am right now," said HPU head coach Reid Takatsuka. "One of our goals was to win the conference championship, and we got that. Now it's time to get ready for the postseason and make a run."
 
In her final regular season game, senior forward Jessi Reeves of Coffs Harbour, Australia/John Paul, led the Sharks by posting her eighth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Junior forward Gabriella Fotu of Auckland, New Zealand/Rangitoto, added 13 points and junior guard Janessa Manzano of San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius, tallied 10 points.
 
Hawai'i Hilo was paced by Allie Navarette with 16 points and eight rebounds to go with two blocked shots. Safia Sheikh contributed 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
The Sharks connected on 24-of-62 attempts from the floor (39 percent), with 6-of-16 (38 percent) from the 3-point arc. However, HPU made just 12-of-25 free throw (48 percent). UHH made 36 percent of its shots from the field (16-of-45) and was also 6-of-16 (38 percent) from the arc and 12-of-23 (52 percent) from the foul line. HPU outrebounded UHH 43-32 and had just 12 turnovers to the Vulcans 20.
 
The Sharks jumped out in front early with a 21-9 first quarter that included a 15-1 run started by a layup from freshman forward Jessica Harley from Melbourne, Australia/Caulfield Grammar.
 
In the second quarter, HPU extended the lead to 34-18 at the half, first building an 18-point lead on a Fotu 3-pointer and getting a Reeves layup to close the half.
 
The third quarter found HPU pushing the advantage to 22 on a Manzano triple and to a lead of 24-points at 44-20 on another Reeves lay in with 5:47 remaining. The Vulcans closed the gap slightly with a layup from Kailani Jones to end the quarter with HPU up 49-32.
 
The Sharks rolled the lead back up to 26 points at 61-35 with 4:11 to play on another Fotu 3-pointer, then HPU reined in the troops as UH Hilo managed to take 10-points off the deficit as HPU let the clock drop off.
 
With the co-championship, HPU has the number two seed in the PacWest Conference Tournament next week in Riverside, Calif., at the new California Baptist Event Center. The Sharks have a bye to the semifinals on Friday at 10:30 a.m. HST (12:30 p.m. PST) against the winner of Thursday's first round matchup between third seed Cal Baptist and sixth seed Dominican. The other side of the bracket has fourth seed Concordia and fifth seed Point Loma meeting on Thursday to face top seeded Azusa Pacific on Friday at 12:45 p.m. HST (2:45 PST). The Championship game is Saturday at Noon HST (2 p.m. PST).