Arkansas shooters pick apart Hawaii

In under 24 hours, the Hawaii women’s basketball team went from setting a season high in points to allowing the same distinction.

Arkansas shot 50 percent from the field, including better than 60 percent in the second half, in defeating UH 83-68 on Day 2 of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Showdown.

A sparse, noon Stan Sheriff Center gathering of 286 saw the Wahine (2-4) show moments of effective play, only to falter late against a team on the outside fringe of the Top 25.

A day after scoring 85 — UH’s highest output in five years — in a 12-point win vs. Oregon, the Wahine faltered late against the stalwart post game and depth of the Razorbacks (4-1).

Junior forward Kamilah Martin scored 20 points with nine rebounds and four assists, but couldn’t stop Hogs 6-foot-3 senior center Sarah Watkins, who tied her career high of 25 points on a series of face-up jumpers.

"An amazing player with a great skill set," UH coach Laura Beeman said. "We knew what she was capable of doing. Unfortunately, Mia is giving up 4 inches on her. … That’s a tough matchup."

UH redshirt freshman wing Ashleigh Karaitiana set a season high of 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting, and grabbed six boards. Freshman Destiny King added 11 points, but no one else had more than seven.

After UH trailed by nine at halftime, senior point guard Monica DeAngelis hit a 3-pointer to pull her team within 49-45 with 13:23 to play.

UA responded with two layups and it never got that close again. The Southeastern Conference team had 17 assists to only eight turnovers.

"It was a little bit of the execution, and little bit of us learning how to get stops in those situations," said DeAngelis, who had five points and five assists. "That only comes with more game practice."

UH closes out its most difficult stretch of the season — which included losses against top-four teams Baylor and Stanford — against No. 13 Oklahoma at 2:30 p.m. today. The Sooners (4-1) hit 17 3-pointers and blew out Oregon 100-61 in Saturday’s second game.

Watkins repeatedly hit jumpers over the top of the 5-foot-11 Martin and UH’s other post players, including three straight buckets to open the second half. She reached the 1,000-point career mark with an 11-for-16 outing.

"I’ve really been trying to focus on my shot, and I knew I have 3-point range, but today I was really looking to start close to the basket, get more high-percentage shots," Watkins said.

She came off the bench for the first time this season after fouling out with six points against the Sooners the day prior, helping explain some, but not all, of UA’s 41-9 advantage in bench points.

"That, in my opinion, is the problem," Beeman said. "We have to get more depth off of our bench. We’re not getting it. We should have some players who can come in and give more than they are."

Not helping matters was that UH junior wing Shawna Kuehu was held out for her fourth straight game with concussion-like symptoms. Sophomore center Kalei Adolpho will miss at least two more games while playing with the UH volleyball team.

Fifty percent shooting in the first half still wasn’t good enough for UH, which led by six early. But before halftime, the Wahine yielded nine offensive boards (out of 14 for the game) and committed eight turnovers to three for the Hogs.

Arkansas closed the first half with a 9-2 run to lead 38-29 at the break.