HONOLULU, Hawai'i - Hawai'i Pacific Women's Basketball closed the Hoops in Hawai'i Tip-Off Classic on Sunday afternoon at Chaminade University's Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Center, battling back from as many as 14 points down against St. Mary's University before the Rattlers held on for a 58-51 win. The Sharks finish the tournament at 1-2, which is also their record on the season.
Hawai'i Pacific opened with a 4-0 lead on a
Cori Wilcox jumper and a
Lucia Ricci layup, but St. Mary's answered with a 6-0 run, capped by a Joana Arumi layup with 3:11 left, and neither team scored again in the quarter. The two sides combined for just 10 points in the first.
Kamryn Griffin's layup opened the second quarter, and Elizabeth Griffin's three-pointer made it 11-4.
Jalen Samuel and
Kyla Hopton answered with layups to get the Sharks within 11-8, but the Rattlers closed the half on a 15-7 run to take a 26-15 lead into the break.
Hawaiii Pacific used a 14-6 stretch in the third quarter to cut a 13-point deficit to 36-31 on a Samuel layup with 2:08 left. Kamryn Griffin then scored the final five points of the quarter, and St. Mary's led 41-31 heading into the fourth.
The Rattlers pushed the margin to 45-31 on an Elizabeth Griffin three-pointer with 8:37 to play, and Hawai'i Pacific answered with an 8-1 run to get within 46-39 while St. Mary's went more than five minutes without a field goal. The Sharks got as close as 56-51 on a Samuel three-pointer with 23 seconds left, but Kamryn Griffin's jumper four seconds later sealed the win.
Kamryn Griffin led all scorers with 29 points on 13-of-18 shooting and added 13 rebounds. Elizabeth Griffin scored 12 for St. Mary's, and Raynne Malik grabbed 10 rebounds. Samuel led Hawai'i Pacific with 15 points off the bench, while Ricci and Hopton each scored 10.
St. Mary's shot 42.9 percent from the field (21-of-49) to Hawai'i Pacific's 33.9 percent (19-of-56), and the Sharks went 4-of-24 from three-point range, a night after hitting 13 against Winona State. Hawai'i Pacific's bench outscored the Rattlers' bench 25-9, but St. Mary's turned 14 Sharks turnovers into 14 points.
Hawai'i Pacific returns to action on Friday, Nov. 13, when it hosts Alaska Fairbanks at 5 p.m. at the Shark Tank.
