Posted on: Friday, October 3, 2003

ISLE FILE
UH-Hilo favored in PacWest basketball

Advertiser Staff

The University of Hawai'i-Hilo was selected as the favorite to win the six-team Pacific West Conference men's basketball title this season in a poll of conference coaches.

The Vulcans received 42 of a possible 50 points from opposing coaches. Montana State-Billings was picked to finish second with 32 points followed by Brigham Young-Hawai'i (30 points), Chaminade (28), Hawai'i Pacific (22) and Western New Mexico (10).

Hawai'i-Hilo's Ryan Abrahams, a 6-foot-3 senior guard from Los Angeles, was voted the top player in the conference. He averaged 16.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game en route to first-team All-PacWest honors last season.

The NCAA basketball season starts November 15, with the first PacWest teams in action starting November 17.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

• Three HPU players honored: Hawai'i Pacific softball players Kimberlie Fukumoto, Alisa Iloreta and Anuhea Diamond were named to the 2003 National Fast Pitch Coaches Association All-American Scholar-Athlete Team.

Fukumoto, a three-year letterwinner from Flagstaff, Ariz., graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in applied mathematics with a 3.91 cumulative grade point average.

Iloreta, a four-year utility player from Wailua, Kaua'i, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology with a 3.54 GPA.

Diamond was HPU's only underclassman named to the NFCA All-American Scholar-Athlete team. The Mililani graduate is a visual communication major and maintains a 3.64 GPA.

Players must maintain a 3.5 GPA or better to be selected as a NFCA Scholar-Athlete. The GPA was based on the student-athletes' 2002-03 fall and spring semesters (or three quarters) only.