Laie, HI- Arizona Christian opened their trip to Hawaii with a 79-63 loss to BYU- Hawaii on Friday night.  Freshman Courtney Christmas did her part with team highs of 24 points and eight rebounds.

The first two quarters of the game provided the thrill of nine lead changes and four ties.

Senior Madison Austin knocked down a jumper to give the Firestorm (4-1) an early 2-0 edge.

The Seasiders (2-0) scored the next four points before Christmas converted a free throw and then a layup to move ACU back ahead 5-4.

Following another tie and lead change in BYUH's favor, Junior Samantha Young scored in the paint to once again move Arizona Christian in front.

But the Firestorm would not score again in the quarter as the Seasiders carried a 16-11 lead into the quarter break.

In a back and forth second quarter, Freshman Jada Willingham gave ACU a lead with 7:52 left.  BYUH grabbed back the scoring edge and appeared to be headed to halftime on top as they lead 32-28 with 95 seconds left in the half.  However, the Firestorm had other ideas.

Willingham showed off her arsenal as she sandwiched two baskets including one just before the buzzer around a jumper from Freshman Moana Hala'ufia to give ACU a 34-32 cushion headed to the locker room.

At the break, Christmas was on her way to a great game with nine points and seven boards.  Willingham was a point behind with eight points.

Christmas scored three of the first five points of the second half and ACU was up 37-34.

BYU- Hawaii countered with the next eight points and stayed on top for the rest of the game.

The balanced attack of the NCAA DII Seasiders was the undoing for the Firestorm as five different BYUH players ended the game in double figures.  Valerie Nawahine was particularly tough with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Senior Alyssa Gruber ended the game second on Arizona Christian's scoring list with nine points.

On Saturday, the Firestorm will return to the same court but will face a different opponent as ACU and Hawaii Pacific will meet on the BYU- Hawaii court.  The Firestorm and the Sharks will tip at 6:00 pm (AT)/ 3:00 pm (HT).