Hawaii Hilo athletic director Patrick Guillen announced Tuesday that men’s basketball head coach GE Coleman will not have his contract renewed for the 2020-21 season.
Coleman has been at the helm of UH Hilo basketball for seven years. This season he led the Vulcans to a 12-14 mark, the same as last year. For the second straight year, the record meant that UH Hilo will miss the Pacific West Conference tournament. The season included a 10-12 stretch in conference play, good for a tie for sixth place.
The UH Hilo basketball program is in search of just its sixth head coach since its inception in 1976-77. Coleman finishes his UHH career with a 69-112 record.
Coleman’s contract officially expires on June 30. A nationwide search for the next head coach is expected to begin immediately.
Hawaii Pacific holds firm at No. 3
The Hawaii Pacific University women’s basketball team stood firm at No. 3 in both major Division II women’s basketball polls on Tuesday.
Currently on a 23-game win streak, the PacWest regular-season champion Sharks (27-1, 22-0 PacWest) remained third in the WBCA D-II poll and the D2SIDA poll, the 12th time this season they’ve been ranked in both polls. HPU is also the first team in PacWest history to win 22 conference games in a season. The conference moved to a 22-game schedule last season.
The top four spots in the polls are now aligned. Drury (29-0) remains first, holding 14 of 23 first-place votes in the WBCA poll and all 16 votes in the D2SIDA poll. In second is Ashland (28-0), which received the remaining nine first-place votes in the WBCA poll. HPU holds third, while Grand Valley State (26-2) takes fourth.
UH Hilo splits doubleheader with Biola
Hawaii Hilo snapped Biola’s nine-game winning streak with a 7-1 victory on Tuesday, but the Eagles countered with Paige Austin’s pitching in a 3-2 win to split the softball doubleheader in Kailua-Kona.
Biola took three games in the four-game series, improving to 12-2 overall and 7-1 in the PacWest conference. The Vulcans fell to 8-10 overall and 3-3 in the PacWest.
The Vulcans opened the day with an offensive explosion as the leadoff hitter reached base in each of the first five innings. Skylar Thomas had a double and a walk and scored in the second and fourth innings.
Pitcher Valerie Alvarado worked through seven innings on just 67 pitches, giving up two hits and no earned runs.
In Game 2, Biola countered by plating three runs in the first three innings, which proved to be enough wiggle room for Austin, who worked out of a jam in the sixth inning before setting Vulcans down in succession in the seventh inning for her third win of the series.
Sharks sweep PacWest doubleheader
The Hawaii Pacific softball team swept visiting Azusa Pacific 5-0 and 5-4 at Sand Island Park on Tuesday.
The Sharks (10-7, 5-3 PacWest) have won three straight, while the Cougars (4-11, 0-6) have yet to tally a conference win.
Freshman Ashlee Laver held Azusa Pacific to two hits in a complete-game win in the first game. Malia Torres also went the distance to pick up the win in the second game.
The Sharks were led by sophomore Noel Saunders, who drove in four runs across both games. Senior Sierra Dias had two hits and scored two runs, while junior Cieana Curran scored four runs.
