HONOLULU– The University of Hawai’i women’s basketball used the excitement from its largest crowd of the season, totaling 1,452 fans, to earn the No. 3 seed of the Hercules Tires Big West Basketball Championship with a 68-58 victory over UC Santa Barbara Saturday night in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on Senior Night.
As the Gauchos brought the game within one on two separate occasions in the opening moments of the fourth quarter, sophomore guard Lily Wahine stepped up big down the stretch scoring 13 of her team-high 21 points in the final frame, leading to the double-digit win.
The Rainbow Wahine (15-14, 13-7) avenged their loss at UCSB on January 26th and ended the regular season, winning seven of their last nine games. The Gauchos (19-11, 12-8) had a chance to clinch the three seed on Thursday night but dropped their contest at home to UC Davis before being upended by the ‘Bows.
The first half featured both teams trading blows in a very physical 20 minutes of action. Alexis Tucker scored 11 of her 18 points in the first quarter for a slight lead of 18-17. But the second quarter was all UH as the ‘Bows turned up the defensive pressure holding the Gauchos to just five points. UH put together an 8-2 run to end the frame for a 29-23 lead at the half.
The ‘Bows got some significant efforts from their post players as graduate center Kallin Spiller recorded 12 points while going two-of-six from three-point territory and adding six rebounds. Freshman forward Imani Perez came off the bench after starting the last four games to tally 13 points and eight rebounds. On top of Wahinekapu’s scoring efforts, she added seven boards and four assists in 37 minutes.
UH produced a season-low six turnovers and forced 19 turnovers for 20 points off turnovers. The bench depth favored the home squad as UH picked up 31 points off the bench, compared to the Gauchos, three.
As a result of the victory, UH will play No. 7 Cal State Fullerton in the conference tournament quarterfinals. The ‘Bows took down the Titans in each of their two matchups, the latest coming on February 11th in a 60-54 win at Fullerton.
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