HPU earns berth in NCAA II Championship

HPU claims berth in NCAA II Tournament 

PHOENIX, AZ - Genesis Lewis and Mackenna Karasawa each drained three-pointers in overtime as the Hawaii Pacific women's basketball team beat Grand Canyon 67-64 Thursday night in Phoenix to claim its first berth in the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament and a share of the Pacific West Conference title.

HPU can clinch the PacWest crown outright by winning one of its final two games.

The Sea Warriors (17-5/13-1 PacWest) captured the automatic berth thanks to a two-game lead in the loss column over both Dixie State and Grand Canyon with two games to play.

Dixie State and Grand Canyon could end up tied with HPU - or even in a three-way tie for the league championship - but the Sea Warriors own the tiebreaker over both the Antelopes and Red Storm.

The deciding tiebreaker would involve the season series for each team vs. the PacWest's fourth-place club - Notre Dame de Namur. Dixie State and GCU are 1-1 vs. NDNU, while HPU swept the Argos.

If there is a tie for the league title, the PacWest would declare co-champions or tri-champions. The tiebreaker criteria is used to determine the automatic qualifier.

Lewis led the Sea Warriors with a double-double after scoring 14 points and pulling down 11 rebounds - all on the defensive end. Karasawa only took a pair of shots in the game, nailing both from beyond the arc to finish with seven points. She also had four assists.

Jazzmin Awa-Williams also reached double-figures by scoring a dozen points to go along with six boards, while Courtney Buster contributed a team-high 12 rebounds.

Grand Canyon was led by Katrina Graham who scored 16 points, and Samantha Murphy who turned in 14. Kia Gibson added 11.