HONOLULU, Hawaii - After LMU took the lead late in the first quarter, the Lions never trailed Hawaii Pacific again as they secured the 66-52 victory on the shores of Oahu. The Sharks fought until the very end, though, threatening the Lion's lead twice in the fourth quarter.
Khari Clark had a stellar bounce back game off the bench as she led the Lions in points, rebounds, and recorded zero fouls while being fouled seven times. Clark's 17 points and 10 rebounds were good enough for her first double-double of the season. Remarkably, Clark's zero fouls comes on the heels of fouling out against Hawaii just one game ago.
Clark was backed by near double-doubles from Ariel Johnson, Alexis Mark, and Kimora Sykes. Johnson dominated the defensive boards on her way to nine rebounds, going along with her 12 points and five assists. Mark followed close behind with 11 points on 4-5 from the field, and seven rebounds. Sykes rounded out the core providers with ten points of her own, six rebounds, and three steals.
The Lions controlled the paint, outsourcing the Sharks 30-18 inside. Despite the Lion's field goal percentage dropping significantly from the first to second half (52% down to 31%), they capitalized from the free throw line shooting nearly lights out (13-14), good for 92% in the second half.
The Sharks seemed to be in control early on as they took an 11-6 lead just under three minutes into the game. This lead brought Clark off the bench, and she recorded her first bucket just seconds after her entrance. Free throws from Cassandra Gordon, Johnson, and Clark closed the gap, and Sykes officially pushed the Lions over the hump on a fast break to take the lead for the remaining 33 minutes.
The Sharks made a run at it early in the fourth quarter, shrinking the deficit to just five. Clark and Mark would push the Lions lead back up to nine, but the Sharks would not go down without a fight. With just three and a half minutes remaining, the lead was once again trimmed to just five points. Sensing the threat, the Lion's mounted a 9-0 run to close out the game and leave Hawaii with a victory.
The win brings LMU to an even 1-1 on their Hawaii road trip and an overall record of 3-5. The team will get a much-needed break from competition before returning to Gersten Pavilion on December 18th to face Texas State in their final home non-conference matchup.
