AZUSA, Calif. » Hawaii Pacific positioned itself to win the PacWest Conference’s first women’s basketball tournament by establishing a school record Friday.
The top-seeded Sea Warriors won their 19th game of the season by beating fourth-seeded Dixie State 88-74 in the semifinals at Azusa Pacific’s Felix Events Center.
The victory put HPU (19-6) into today’s final against third-seeded Academy of Art and set a standard for most wins in a season. HPU enters the final with a six-game winning streak and 14 victories in its past 17 games.
"It’s pretty amazing what we’re doing right now," said HPU coach Reid Takatsuka, the PacWest’s coach of the year. "We had 12 new players this year and they really had to learn to play together.
"We’re not as athletic as we were last year, but this team executes better. They share the basketball. They’ve really just pulled together and become one. It’s a beautiful thing that’s happening."
"We knew that everybody’s tense," said forward Skye Savini, who had 23 points, five assists, five rebounds, three steals and two blocks. "Everybody’s trying to change their game up. They’re trying to go a little harder. But we came out knowing that we just needed to play our game. I think we were a little more relaxed."
HPU relied on two surges to take command. Dixie State held a 16-14 lead when the Sea Warriors used a 15-0 spree to move ahead 29-16 with 6:40 left in the first half.
"The key was when we got the first stop and ran," said HPU guard Susannah Walmsley, who finished with 15 points.
When the Red Storm (15-13) narrowed the deficit to 46-36 with 3:09 gone in the second half, HPU responded with a 17-1 blitz that extended the margin to 63-37 with 11:41 to play.
"We knew we had to come in and run today — run and run and run," Savini said. "We just like to push and out-run other teams."
The Sea Warriors forced 22 turnovers — 12 from steals — and used them to score 22 points. HPU also outscored the Red Storm in the lane, 42-18.
HPU’s Mikela Thoemmes added 13 points and seven rebounds. Johnna Brown led Dixie State with 20 points.
Dixie State 71, Brigham Young-Hawaii 59
The fifth-seeded Seasiders (16-12) led 37-31 at halftime against the top-seeded Red Storm (21-6). But BYU-Hawaii shot 22.9 percent in the second half and failed to score for a span of 6:09 in that half.
Pablo Coro led the Seasiders with 15 points. Robbie Mitchell and Junior Ale each added 10 points and Bracken Funk grabbed 13 rebounds.
Dixie State’s De’Quan Thompson scored a game-high 18 points. Steven Larson contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Chaminade 58, Grand Canyon 45
De’Andre Haskins, the PacWest’s player of the year, scored a game-high 18 points to lead the third-seeded Silverswords (19-9) into tonight’s final.
Chaminade played without starting guard Bennie Murray, who scored 23 points in Thursday night’s win over Hawaii Pacific. Murray, a member of the All-PacWest second team, was suspended for disciplinary reasons but will return for the final, said athletic director Bill Villa.
Lee Bailey added 12 points and Waly Coulibaly had 10 points, eight rebounds, five steals and three assists. Killian Larson led second-seeded Grand Canyon (23-7) with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
