HONOLULU, Hawai'i - Hawai'i Pacific knocked down 13 three-pointers on Saturday night at Chaminade University's Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Center, but Winona State University controlled the glass and the paint to pull away from the Sharks for a 71-56 win on day two of the Hoops in Hawai'i Tip-Off Classic. The Warriors improve to 2-0, and Hawai'i Pacific falls to 1-1 on the season.
Winona State scored first on two Sadie Jarmolowicz free throws and leaned on its work on the glass to build an early cushion, but Hawai'i Pacific found its range from deep.
Mia Frye and
Kyla Hopton hit back-to-back threes, 20 seconds apart, to trim the Warriors' lead to 9-8 with five minutes left in the first quarter, the closest the Sharks would be all night. Winona State answered with an 8-1 stretch, and Hopton and Jarmolowicz traded threes before the Warriors closed the quarter up 22-14. Winona State grabbed seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone.
The Warriors opened the second quarter with threes from Megan Johnson and Jarmolowicz to stretch the lead to 28-14.
Lucia Ricci would not let the Sharks slip away. She answered with a three-pointer right away, then added two more over the next five minutes, and
Kalysa Ng buried one of her own as Hawai'i Pacific pulled within 37-26.
Jalen Samuel hit both free throws with 3:31 left to make it 38-28, but Sydney Cherney's three-pointer with 43 seconds to play put Winona State back up 42-28.
Mya Hatchett's layup with 28 seconds left sent the Sharks to the break trailing 42-30.
Winona State pushed the lead to 48-32 midway through the third quarter on jumpers from Cherney and Johnson, and Hawai'i Pacific punched back. Ricci and Hopton hit threes 29 seconds apart to cut the deficit to 48-38, and after a Rylie Cother jumper, Hopton drilled another three with 3:44 left in the quarter to make it 50-41, the closest the Sharks would get in the second half. Then the offense went cold. Winona State closed the third on a 7-0 run, with Megan Schuman scoring five of the points, and Hawai'i Pacific went the final 3:44 of the quarter without a point to trail 57-41.
The Sharks did not go quietly in the fourth. After Vivica Bretton opened the quarter with a layup, Samuel answered with a three-pointer at the 8:00 mark, then scored on a layup, and Hatchett added another to make it 61-48. Schuman hit a three-pointer to push the lead back to 16, but Ng answered with a three of her own, and after two Jarmolowicz free throws, she hit another with 5:30 to play to cut the deficit to 66-54. Breah Golden's layup 14 seconds later put Winona State back up 68-54, and Hawai'i Pacific managed just two points over the final 5:16, a Hatchett free throw at 2:18 and an
Aliilani Halaufia-Tuygun free throw with three seconds left. Cherney's three-pointer with 1:18 to play rounded out the Warriors' scoring.
Ricci led Hawai'i Pacific with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 4-of-5 from three-point range, in just 21 minutes. Hopton added 12 points on four three-pointers, while Ng scored nine on three threes. Samuel and Hatchett each scored seven, with Hatchett adding three steals. Bretton led Winona State with 14 points and six assists, Schuman scored 12 and Cherney added 11. Jarmolowicz finished with a double-double, 10 points and 10 rebounds, to go with five assists.
The rebounding gap was the difference. Winona State outrebounded Hawai'i Pacific 50-23, including 22 offensive boards that turned into 18 second-chance points to the Sharks' five, and the Warriors outscored Hawai'i Pacific 34-12 in the paint. Hawai'i Pacific shot 33.3 percent from the field (19-of-57) and 41.9 percent from three-point range (13-of-31) to Winona State's 44.4 percent (24-of-54).
The Sharks did create havoc defensively, forcing 23 turnovers with 11 steals and scoring 19 points off those takeaways, and their bench outscored Winona State's 29-17. But Hawai'i Pacific's own 18 turnovers led to 27 Warriors points. Winona State went 17-of-29 at the free-throw line to Hawai'i Pacific's 5-of-10, and the Sharks were called for 22 fouls to the Warriors' 18. Schuman fouled out for Winona State.
