Kirsten Shimizu picked a good afternoon to break out a for a big scoring night.
The senior point guard from Sacramento, CA missed her career high at the University of Hawai`i at Hilo by one point, scoring 23 points, dishing out six assists, and draining out four treys as the Vulcans defeated Holy Names 77-68 in a key early season PacWest Conference showdown.
Shimizu was true from beyond the arc for the game’s first basket, but she wasn’t the hottest shooter early on. Holy Names guard Britney Potestio drained a pair of three pointers early to give the Hawks a 15-8 lead with 13:52 to play in the first half.
Shimizu would eventually begin to light it up. She shot 6-of-8 in the first half, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, scoring 17 first half points as her team had a 43-28 advantage at halftime.
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Shimizu hit a three pointer to open the second half and extend the lead to 18 points, but the Hawks would chip away at that lead throughout the half. Nearly three minutes into the half, the lead was cut down to ten thanks to a 10-2 run spanning 2:23 of the half.
The Hawks would go on another run, a 13-5 spurt just after the mid-way point of the half to get within five of the lead at 59-54 with 6:04 to play. The lead got cut down farther to four before Kirsty Imai drilled a dagger trey to give the Vulcans a 71-64 lead with 1:24 remaining in the game.
Kirsty’s sister, Kamie Imai, recovered from a shooting slump that plagued her for the last few games by scoring 18 points in 26 minutes. Forward Jazzmyn Davis came off of the bench to score 14 points and grab six rebounds.
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Potestio hit three treys and scored 16 points to lead four players in double-digit scoring for the Hawks. Sonia Aguilar scored 14 points off of the bench, Dominique Williams scored 13 points and collected 13 rebounds, and Yesenia Garzon scored 10 points.
UH Hilo (5-6, 2-3 PacWest) heads to the road for a four game California road trip, beginning Monday with a visit to conference newcomer Fresno Pacific University.
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