HONOLULU – Nationally ranked Hawai'i Pacific University ran its winning streak to 15 on Monday evening with an 89-80 PacWest Conference victory over Concordia Irvine at The Shark Tank.
 
The Sharks (19-1, 14-0), ranked eighth in the WBCA Division II Coaches poll and seventh in the D2SIDA poll, never trailed in the second to the Eagles (11-6, 9-3) to snap CUI's five-game win streak and take a three-game lead in the PacWest race.
 
Senior Starr Rivera of Honolulu/Roosevelt paced the Sharks with 30 points to go with six rebounds, while sophomore Amy Baum of Melbourne, Australia/Rowville Secondary just missing a triple-double with 20 points, a career-high 16 rebounds, and eight assists. Sophomore Abbey Noblett of Morwell, Australia/Lavalla Catholic scored 16 points and freshman Theresa Spatzier of Heidelberg, Germany/St. Raphael came off the bench with 11 points.
 
The Eagles were led by Michaela VanderKlugt who double-doubled with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Jasmine Rachal scored 20 points, and Kennedy Fulcher double-doubled with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
 
The Sharks hit 47 percent (32-of-68) from the field, including 50 percent (8-of-16) from the 3-point arc. HPU connected on 17-of-23 (74 percent) from the free throw line. The Eagles shot 38 percent from the floor (30-of-79), 19 percent from the arc (4-of-21), and 16-of-17 (94 percent) from the charity stripe. CUI edged HPU 44-43, but the Sharks recorded a school-record low six time to the Eagles seven.
 
The teams opened the contest battling back and forth, with the opening 10 minutes featuring five ties and three lead changes. The Sharks posted a 10-8 lead on a Noblett layup with 3:40 in the period before CUI went on a 6-0 run to take the lead. CUI led by as many as five points, but held an 18-14 advantage after a jumper from VanderKlugt at the quarter horn.
 
HPU opened the second quarter with 3-pointers from Noblett and Rivera to take the lead, but VanderKlugt answered with a tying jumper. HPU came back with a triple from Baum, only to have Lanie James score her only points on a 3-point that tied the game at 23-23 with 8:04 left in the half.
 
That's HPU kicked it into gear. Junior Alysha Marcucci of Melbourne, Australia/Marist-Sion made a pair of free throws to take the lead at 25-23 and start a 10-0 run that ended on a Noblett jumper for a 33-23 lead with 4:18 remaining before the midpoint. HPU never trailed again. CUI trimmed it to a six-point contest before HPU made a run to lead by a dozen before settling for a 43-33 halftime advantage.
 
The Sharks saw the Eagles chop away at the lead in the third, getting as close as four at 51-47 when VanderKlugt dropped in a layup with 3:55 in the quarter. Rivera answered with a 3-pointer on the next possession to key a 10-0 run in the next 90 seconds capped by a layup by Baum for a 61-47 lead with 2:22 in the quarter. The Eagles came back in the period and cut the Sharks advantage to 63-55 after three.
 
HPU pushed the lead to 14 again in the final quarter on another Rivera 3, one of her five on the evening, then held on down the stretch to win 89-80 win.
 
The Sharks close their three games-in-five days homestand on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. when Academy of Art visits The Shark Tank. It's the last time the nationally-ranked women play at home before closing the season on Feb. 29 against Hawai'i Hilo.