San Jose State trips up young Wahine

A young Hawaii women’s basketball team experienced a post-Thanksgiving hangover to open the Rainbow Wahine Shootout.

UH lacked the energy needed to extend its eight-game home-court winning streak, losing 77-61 to San Jose State at the Stan Sheriff Center on Friday evening.

Junior Sarah Toeaina shattered her previous career high with 24 points on 9-for-17 shooting and Leah Salanoa added 12 points off the bench.

Outside of them, it was tough-going for Hawaii (2-3), which started three freshmen for the first time this season.

“We did not have energy, did not (play) team basketball, did not execute the basics that we needed to execute in order to be a successful basketball team,” Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said. “I think if people show up and they don’t want to work hard then it doesn’t matter what the gameplan is …. there were a lot of ladies who showed up tonight who didn’t want to work hard and play hard.”

UH, which hadn’t lost at home since a 77-74 defeat to UC Riverside last January, jumped out to its largest lead at 17-9 in the first quarter.

The Spartans (2-3) missed 17 of their first 20 shots before a 13-0 run gave them an advantage they wouldn’t give up.

An eight-point halftime lead for SJSU ballooned to as many as 14 in the third period.

UH closed to 60-54 in the fourth quarter on a three-point play by leading scorer Briana Harris, who was held to eight points on 3-for-12 shooting.

San Jose State responded with a 13-2 run fueled by Dezz Ramos, who had 11 of her team-high 18 points in the final 5:35.

“I think when (Ramos’) teammates started hitting shots, it helped her,” SJSU coach Jamie Craighead said. “We came here to play Hawaii. We needed to get this win. Now our kids can relax and we’ll just see what we can do against some pretty good basketball teams.”

No. 7 Mississippi State handed Oregon its first loss of the season, 75-63, in the first game of the tournament that runs on consecutive days through Sunday. UH plays Oregon today at 5:30 p.m.

It’s a quick turnaround for a Hawaii team that played without starting forward Lahni Salanoa (ankle).

Freshman Keleah-Aiko Koloi took her place and had four points and two rebounds in 12 minutes.

Toeaina did her part to pick up the slack, tying her previous career high of 14 points in the first half alone.

She also added four rebounds, three assists and three steals with only one turnover playing a game-high 36 minutes.

“We are young — back to the drawing board we go,” Toeaina said. “It’s more eye-opening to see what steps forward we want to take.”