Rainbow Wahine fall in triple overtime

Hawaii hit tying 3-pointers late in the first two overtime periods, but the Rainbow Wahine basketball team couldn’t muster a third comeback and Nevada pulled out a 67-59 triple overtime win Sunday in Reno, Nev.

UH guard Sarah Toeaina came up with a steal and pulled up to make a 3-pointer with 20.1 seconds left in the first overtime. Wahine sophomore Olivia Crawford extended the game again with another 3 with 2.3 seconds remaining in the second OT.

But the Wahine (3-7) went 0-for-8 from the field in the final five-minute period and Nevada (6-5) put the game away with an 8-0 run at the Lawlor Events Center.

“I think if the effort would have been there for the first 40 minutes we would not have had to go into triple overtime,” UH coach Laura Beeman said in a phone interview following the program’s first triple-overtime game. “We hit a couple big shots to get us into the overtimes, but we shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with.

“When you’re on the road, you can’t play flat. When you’re on the road, you can’t have a lack of execution and try to always climb out of a hole and hit big shots. Eventually it’s going to run out on you and it ran out on us today.”

The Wahine left Reno shortly after the game and will play at Boise State (9-1) on Tuesday to conclude their road trip.

Crawford led UH with 12 points and Toeaina — who played 44 of the possible 55 minutes — finished with eight points and 11 rebounds for the Wahine, who shot a season-low 23 percent from the field (20-for-87).

Nevada wasn’t much better at 27 percent shooting (24-for-89), but outrebounded UH 65-59 and built a 16-4 advantage on second-chance points.

UH committed a meager two turnovers in the first half while taking a 26-18 lead.

The Wahine had 13 after halftime, including three in the third overtime period.

“I know coming off finals and travel was difficult, but (Saturday’s) practice was not good,” Beeman said. “There was no intensity and that trickled over to the game today where we just couldn’t get a lot of focus and a lot of intensity and very little communication.”

Stephanie Schmid hit three 3-pointers and led four Nevada players in double figures with 14 points. Riana Everidge finished with 13 and forward AJ Cephas posted 10 points and 13 rebounds and scored on a key putback with 43.5 seconds left in the third OT that gave the Wolf Pack a 63-59 lead.

UH senior Briana Harris and freshman Makenna Woodfolk set career highs with 14 rebounds each.