Two of the best weekly performances of the entire season easily landed Alisha Wilson (Academy of Art) and Brittney Cedeno (Dominican) with Player and Defender of the Week honors. Cedeno’s Penguin team continues to roll, sweeping the Hawai`i schools on the islands to land the Team of the Week honor.

2022-23 Results/Schedule
2022-23 Standings
2022-23 Statistics
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art’s Alisha Wilson, F/C, 6-1, Soph., Pomona, Calif.                                 
Talented Urban Knight Alisha Wilson continued to post amazing numbers last week, numbers that almost don’t compute. The 6-foot-1 sophomore totaled 33 rebounds and eight blocked shots in two games, but that only begins to tell the story. She also put 50 points in the scorebook, with five steals and four assists as Academy of Art defeated Chaminade (66-52) and came up just short against Hawai`i Hilo (60-58). Against the Silverswords she had 27 points, 18 rebounds, four blocked shots, four assists and five steals. The point and rebound totals were both the second highest of her career. In the loss to the Vulcans, the track and field All-American (53.97 in the 400 meters) had 23 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots. Wilson currently leads the PacWest in rebounds (12.8 per game), is third in scoring (16.7) and field goal percentage (.522), fourth in blocked shots (1.2) and seventh in steals (2.2).
 
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Dominican’s Brittney Cedeno, G, Sr., 5-9, South San Francisco, Calif.                    
Picking up her third PacWest Defender of the Week award is Dominican’s all-around senior Brittney Cedeno. The 5-foot-9 guard stuffed the stat sheet with triple-double numbers against Chaminade with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 12 steals, adding a blocked shot and four assists for good measure. It is just the second triple-double in the PacWest this season. The 12 steals is the second highest total ever in the conference, and the most since 2010. Cedeno had a double-double in a 75-60 win over Hawai`i Hilo with 12 points and 15 rebounds, with five assists, three steals and a blocked shot. She added six more steals against Hawai`i Pacific, with 15 points and eight rebounds for an astounding three-game total of 41 points, 34 rebounds, 12 assists, 21 steals and three blocked shots. The fourth-year Penguin leads the PacWest in steals by a large margin (4.7 per game) and is fourth in rebounds (7.9).

PENGUINS ACCOMPLISH ISLAND SWEEP: The PacWest Team of the Week is the DOMINICAN PENGUINS. The lava-hot roll for Dominican continued last week with three more wins, all in Hawai`i, by a combined total of 61 points. The Penguins raced past Hawai`i Hilo (75-60), Hawai`i Pacific (60-33) and Chaminade (72-53) to run their win streak to eight games. The last time that they lost was on December 12 (non-conference against Seattle Pacific). In addition to all of Brittney Cedeno’s heroics, DUC’s Mikayla Amoroso had 27 points against the Vulcans, Olga Faasolo had 15 points and seven boards versus the Sharks, and Alaiyah San Juan put up 15 points and four steals against the Silverswords. The third-place Penguins have the best defense in PacWest-only games (55.7) and are second in win margin (17.3).

IT's TIGHT AT THE TOP: The top three teams in the current PacWest standings (through Sunday, Jan. 15) are separated by just a half game. Concordia sits on top at 9-1, with Azusa Pacific (8-1) and Dominican (9-2) just a smidge behind. Hawai`i Pacific (6-2), Biola (6-3) and Point Loma (6-5) are all in the hunt as well—representing the top six. Academy of Art (4-6) and Hawai`i Hilo (3-5) sit just outside that top group. The final top six at the end of the regular season qualify for the Pacific West Conference Championships, set for March 2-4 at Chaminade University in Honolulu.

KEY GAMES AHEAD AS SECOND HALF BEGINS: Another busy slate is on tap this week. Biola and Azusa Pacific do their tour of the Hawai`i islands, while big Saturday match-ups loom towards the end of the week. Conference leader Concordia travels to third-place Dominican in a top tier game, while Point Loma visits Academy of Art in a match-up of teams battling for a tournament spot.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Hawai`i Hilo’s Kamala Kamakawiwoole had a pair of big games last week against Dominican and Academy of Art. Against the Penguins, the 5-11 transfer forward (Utah State) had 19 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. She added 21 points versus the Urban Knights. 5-2 guard Mandi Kawaha had a pair of double-doubles for Hawai`i Hilo with 16-10 against DUC and 11-10 (with six assists) against ART U…In Academy of Art’s 66-52 win over Chaminade, guard Jadence Clifton supported Alisha Wilson’s massive numbers with 22 points and seven rebounds. Olivia Crigler had 19 points and seven boards for the Silverswords…Azusa Pacific had just one game last week, a 67-57 win over Point Loma. Molly Whitmore had 18 points and seven rebounds while Kelly Heimburger had a balanced line of 12 points, six rebounds, six assists, and four blocked shots. Ellie Turk had 17 points and Haylee Saurette 16 for the Sea Lions…Abby Spurgin had a third of Hawai`i Pacific’s points with 11 and ten rebounds in the Sharks’ 60-33 loss to Dominican…Chaminade had a school record 55 rebounds in their loss to the Penguins, led by Dezaray Carter’s 10 boards. In just her second game of the season, Mary-Lee Mitchell came off the bench for a career-high 16 points for the ‘Swords…Fresno Pacific’s Breanna Hurt had 20 points and eight rebounds in the Sunbirds’ 91-44 win over Holy Names, the first PacWest win of the season for FPU…Concordia finished the first half of the season with a 9-1 mark by topping Point Loma, 83-74. Jasmine Rachal had 21 points and six assists and Teagan Thurman added 19 points, six rebounds and six steals as the Golden Eagles won their seventh straight…Hawai`i Pacific took out Biola (77-60) behind Aysia Johnson’s seven points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Kaylee Berry had 20 points and Abby Spurgin had 17 for the Sharks.

Cougars and Golden Eagles Hold Regional Spots: Azusa Pacific remained at No. 4, Concordia is No. 8 and Dominican is receiving votes in the today's D2SIDA women's basketball west region poll. Here's the January 16 listing. (1) Western Washington 13-1, (2) Cal State Dominguez Hills 16-0, (3) Cal State San Marcos 12-2, (4) Azusa Pacific 13-3, (5) Montana State Billings 14-4, (6) Central Washington 13-4, (7) Cal Poly Pomona 11-3, (8) Concordia 12-4, (9) Cal State Los Angeles 10-5, (10) Seattle Pacific 10-5.