Some big, big numbers were splashed across the PacWest women’s basketball landscape during the first week of conference play. Hawaii Pacific’s Abby Spurgin was two points shy of the Shark school record when she knocked down 35 points in an overtime win over Hawaii Hilo. UHH’s Mandi Kawaha did get the Vulcan school record with 36 points in that same game, while her teammate Kamala Kamakawiwoole tried to steal a couple of wins with seven total thefts on the week. Azusa Pacific was one of five teams to go 2-0 to start PacWest play, outscoring their opponents by 48 points.

2022-23 Results/Schedule
2022-23 Standings
2022-23 Statistics
D2SIDA West Region and National Poll
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Hawaii Pacific’s Abby Spurgin, C, 6-3, Gr., Fredericksburg, Tex.                            
West Texas A&M grad transfer Abby Spurgin put up 35 points in an overtime victory over island rival Hawaii Hilo, helping her new Sharks team come away with a 84-78 win. The 6-foot-3 center also had ten rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and a steal as HPU pulled away in the extra period. Additionally, the Texan had 18 points and eight rebounds in a conference-opening 79-55 win over Chaminade on Tuesday to give her 53 points, 18 rebounds, five blocked shots and two steals for the week. Spurgin is a former First Team All-Lone Star Conference selection and was the conference tournament MVP in 2019.
 
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Hawai`i Hilo’s Kamalu Kamakawiwoole, G/F, Sr., 5-11, Kaimuki, Hawai`i     
Utah State transfer Kamalu Kamakawiwoole recorded a double-double in UH Hilo’s 70-52 win over Chaminade. The Oahu native had 16 points and 11 rebounds and also had four steals and a blocked shot. She had three steals, two blocks and six rebounds, to go with 12 points in the overtime loss to HPU. For the week, she had seven steals, three blocked shots, 18 rebounds and 28 points.

COUGARS KEEP WINNING WAYS: The PacWest Team of the Week is the AZUSA PACIFIC COUGARS. APU opened PacWest play with their third and fourth consecutive victories, topping Holy Names and Fresno Pacific by a combined 48 points. The Cougars are now 7-2. TyLee Manuel paced APU in the 77-39 win over Holy Names with 21 points and nine rebounds. Manuel had 15 more points in the 71-65 win over Fresno Pacific, with Kelly Heimberger adding 17 points while Molly Whitmore had 16. The Cougars have now moved up into the third slot in the latest D2SIDA West Region poll.

FAST START IN FIRST WEEK FOR COUGARS, GOLDEN EAGLES, EAGLES AND SHARKS: Five teams began PacWest play 2-0 last week—the aforementioned Azusa Pacific Cougars, Concordia, Hawai`i Pacific, Point Loma and Biola. For the Eagles, it was their first two wins of the season and for the Sharks it was an early season statement for their island rivals. Concordia defeated Academy of Art and Dominican, while Biola stopped Fresno Pacific and Holy Names. After falling to Western Washington earlier in the week in a non-conference clash, Point Loma bounced back with PacWest wins over Academy of Art and Dominican in overtime.

BIG EARLY SEASON GAMES HIGHLIGHT WEEK TWO: Point Loma plays at Biola (Wednesday) and Azuza Pacific (Saturday) in a duo of big December games this week. Concordia will take short trips to APU (Wednesday) and Biola (Saturday), while other Saturday games include Hawaii Pacific at Hawaii Hilo, Chaminade at Academy of Art and Fresno Pacific at Dominican.

APU REPS THE PACWEST IN THE WEST: In today’s D2SIDA West Region poll, Azusa Pacific moved up to No. 3, the only PacWest team on the list. The rest of the group looks like this: (1) Western Washington 5-1, (2) Montana State Billings 8-1, (3) Azusa Pacific 7-2, (4) Central Washington 7-1, (5) Alaska Anchorage 6-1, (6) Cal State San Marcos 5-1, (7) Cal State Dominguez Hills 6-0, (8) Cal Poly Pomona 6-1, (9) Northwest Nazarene 6-2, (10) Cal State San Bernardino 6-2. RV—Concordia, Cal State LA, Chico State.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Hawai`i Hilo’s Mandi Kawaha had 36 points in the overtime loss to Hawai`i Pacific, clipping the previous Vulcan school record of 34 points set by Allie Navarette. The 5-foot-2 senior guard also had six rebounds, three assists and two steals in the game…Dallas Martinez had 21 points and eight rebounds in Chaminade’s loss to HPU…Avery Cargill hit six three-pointers in that 79-55 win for the Sharks…Point Loma fell to No. 1 regionally ranked Western Washington, despite Ellie Turk’s 21 points and seven rebounds…Brittany Castro had 25 points for Dominican in a 71-66 loss to Concordia. The Golden Eagles’ Teagan Thurman had 18 points, five rebounds, and three steals for the Golden Eagles...Biola’s Jordan Rabe had 20 points and nine rebounds to get the Eagles in the win column over Fresno Pacific…Haylee Saurette had a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards in Point Loma’s win over Academy of Art, and doubled up again with 20 points and 12 boards against Dominican…Samantha Lemay-Zambrano had 22 points for Holy Names against Biola, hitting six-of-seven three-point shots.