Hawaii Pacific University women’s basketball team face Azusa Pacific in D-II bracket

The Hawaii Pacific University women’s basketball team will take its 38-game winning streak into a matchup with fellow Pacific West Conference member Azusa Pacific on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Division II tournament.

The Sharks (13-0) earned the PacWest’s automatic bid into the Division II tournament for the fourth straight year. Despite being ranked fourth nationally in the NCAA D-II Top 25 Coaches Poll, HPU was slotted as the fifth seed in the six-team West regional to be played in Grand Junction, Colo., when the 48-team bracket was announced on Sunday.

The winner of the first-round game between HPU and fourth-seeded Azusa Pacific (10-4, 8-4 PacWest) will face Colorado School of Mines (17-3), the region’s top seed. The top two seeds in each region received byes into the second round.

“As far as the seeding I just look at it as an opportunity for us to represent Hawaii and prove ourselves,” HPU coach Reid Takatsuka said. “Obviously we were hopeful we would get one of the first two seeds, but it is what it is and we have to go out there and go to work and take care of our business. Every game is an opportunity to prove ourselves and the first step is Azusa.”

The winners of each six-team regional advance to the Division II Women’s Elite Eight in Columbus, Ohio.

The Sharks opened their season with a win over Division I Hawaii on Dec. 13 and swept through the PacWest’s Hawaii bubble against Chaminade and Hawaii Hilo. They were the top seed in the West last year and were set to host the regional when the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.

“Hopefully we can do our best and just prove ourselves this year,” HPU senior Alysha Marcucci said. “Obviously it got cut short last year, so as a senior it is really exciting to have another chance and my last chance to compete.”

The UH Hilo men’s team did not receive an at-large berth in the D-II men’s bracket and the Vulcans closed their season at 10-2.