BY BILL O’REAR | STEPHENS MEDIA ADVERTISING Freshman Thea Hanato-Smith drilled a clutch 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining to lift the University of Hawaii at Hilo over California Baptist University 58-55 on Saturday night. Hanato-Smith, a 5-foot-6 guard and former
BY BILL O’REAR | STEPHENS MEDIA
Freshman Thea Hanato-Smith drilled a clutch 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining to lift the University of Hawaii at Hilo over California Baptist University 58-55 on Saturday night.
Hanato-Smith, a 5-foot-6 guard and former Konawaena High School standout, was all smiles after the memorable win.
“I knew I had to shoot it, and it felt good,” she said. “I was really nervous, but it feels so great to win the game. We knew if we all worked together, we could do it.”
The Lady Vulcans, under second-year coach David Kaneshiro, fell to Cal Baptist 61-54 on the road last week, and the first-place Lancers (13-3 overall, 6-2 PacWest) appeared to control much of the game on Saturday at UH-Hilo.
Cal Baptist, using a dominating inside game, led 34-22 at the intermission and held a 14-point advantage with 10-minutes left in the hard-fought contest. But the Vulcans (8-9, 5-4) just hung tough and whittled the lead down to a point — at 47-46 on junior Jameia McDufffie’s 12-foot jumper at the 4:41 mark.
The hosts then took the lead on junior Kirsty Imai’s long 3-pointer to give UH-Hilo a 50-47 cushion at 4:20.
But the tall Lancers stayed within their system, and the game was tied at 55 heading into the final 30 seconds and the Vulcans with the ball.
Kaneshiro ordered his team to spread out in the halfcourt and gave the cat-quick McDuffie the basketball. She dribbled the clock down to 10 seconds and drove. When a double-team came her way at the left side of the foul line, she fired a pass to a wide-open Hanato-Smith, who caught it in her shooter’s pocket and then drained the in-balance trey from the left corner, giving the Vulcans a 58-55 lead.
Cal Baptist pushed the dribble on the inbounds play, and junior Myriah Hicks’ off-balance trey at the buzzer missed.
Senior Hotia Vaaimamao led UH-Hilo with 16 points. Junior point guard Kirsten Shimizu had 12 points, and senior Hillary Hurley added 10 before going down with a knee injury in the second half. Hurley appeared to be OK after the game while walking in the gym.
McDuffie, a 5-2 junior transfer from Bellflower, Calif., had six points and a game-high six assists — with none sweeter than the drive and dish to Hanato-Smith for the game-winner.
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