Rainbow Wahine out, but not finished

ANAHEIM, CALIF. » As the third seed in the Big West tournament, the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine had legitimate hopes of reaching their first conference championship game in 12 years.

But then along came Poly.

Cal Poly was Hawaii’s biggest obstacle to a Big West championship in the regular season. On Friday, the Mustangs bucked the Rainbow Wahine’s conference tournament title hopes in the semifinals, 66-52.

UH got an emotional lift from the return of senior forward Kamilah Jackson from injury, but the third-seeded Wahine could not assemble a coherent offensive attack 31.1 percent shooting and lost to the No. 2 Mustangs (18-12) for the third time since January.

Cal Poly’s big three of 6-foot-5 center Molly Schlemer, shooting guard Ariana Elegado and point guard Jonae Ervin combined for all but six of the Mustangs’ points. Conversely, no player scored more than nine for the Wahine (17-13).

Co-captain Shawna Kuehu spoke with emotion on the postgame interview podium on the subject of the Mustangs’ mastery.

"We lost that ballgame. We hurt ourselves," she said. "We didn’t hit our shots like we normally (do) and they did. Although we played really good defense, down the stretch it killed us, those little missed chippies that we had. And so, I’m not taking anything away from Cal Poly SLO they’re a really good team and have their three big guns. But honestly, we hurt ourselves, and if we didn’t, maybe the outcome would have been different."

Jackson, UH’s all-conference double-double threat for the past four years, played a scoreless 18 minutes off the bench in her first action in eight games. She didn’t appear to hurt UH’s cohesion, but she clearly wasn’t herself, either. That contributed to a 45-36 Poly advantage on the backboards.

Coach Laura Beeman doesn’t want her team to end on that kind of note; UH flies back to the islands Saturday morning with the mind-set of resuming practice while awaiting a possible invitation to the WNIT for the second straight year.

"Basketball players want to play basketball. I love coaching this game and I don’t want our season to be over," Beeman said. "Right now, it’s tough to think about because this one stings, to see these young ladies work as hard as they did and be as emotional as they are and fall short of a goal we had all year. But as far as the WNIT, absolutely. I think we’re going to get that bid, I hope we get that bid."

UH’s bid for its first conference title game appearance since 2002 unfurled awkwardly. The Wahine appeared tentative on offense and could not capitalize on a similar errant effort in the opening minutes by the Mustangs. The teams combined to shoot 3-for-23 to start off. Offense was so scarce in the early going, a post-up by backup center Kalei Adolpho on Schlemer was one of the best options.

It wasn’t equal futility because three key Wahine were tagged with two early fouls, forcing Beeman into some unusual lineups for the rest of the period. After UH took a very brief 11-9 lead on a jumper by Sydney Haydel, Poly pushed ahead with a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Still, there was hope; senior reserve Diane Moore hit two 3-pointers in the final 1:44 of the period to get UH within 24-19 at the break.

Morgan Mason hit a 3 early in the second half to make it a four-point game. But the Wahine were unable to turn it into a full-blown run against Poly’s predominant 2-3 zone defense.

At the other end, Schlemer had her way inside. She scored 21 of her 29 points in the second half and shot 12-for-19 for the game. It was the first time in the three meetings Schlemer really got going; she was hampered by foul trouble in the two previous meetings.

"Tonight, we had a difficult time fronting her. Not sure why," Beeman said. "But we definitely had a much tougher time getting in front. So we were giving her too much depth in the post. When you’re 6-5 and you’re as talented as she is, you’re going to knock down layups, and that’s what she did."

Elegado, a tormentor in the home-and-home Poly sweep of UH, added 20 points.Ervin she of the 37 points in the infamous 78-74 overtime win at Hawaii to kick off league play added 11 points and four assists.

"Our whole team knows that Hawaii’s a really good basketball team," Schlemer said. "And they work really hard; they’re really strong. Credit to them, they’re coached well. I know we all just go out there and kind of think we have to play our best in order to beat them. At least one of us has taken that and ran with it (each game)."

Poly went 10-for-10 at the free-throw line in the final minute to secure the victory, including four by the soft-shooting Schlemer.

Moore, Haydel and Ashleigh Karaitiana shared UH scoring honors at nine. Kuehu added eight points and eight rebounds. Mason, who had the late-game heroics in UH’s 52-49 win against Long Beach State in the second round on Wednesday, shot just 3-for-12 for seven points.