’Bows give Beeman win No. 100

Finally, the Hawaii women’s basketball team closed out a quarter, game and coach Laura Beeman’s 100th career victory.

Her Rainbow Wahine got some late stops, and got the better of Cal State Fullerton in a back-and-forth affair, 59-54, on Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Beeman recorded her 100th career win in Manoa in her sixth season, becoming the program’s first coach not named Vince Goo to reach the milestone. A resounding cheer emanated from the Rainbow Wahine locker room minutes after the victory, which moved UH to 10-14 overall and 3-8 in Big West play.

For Beeman, the moment called to mind some of the first players she coached at UH — Shawna Kuehu, Ashleigh Karaitiana, Destiny King — who started her on the path to 100. Then she came back to the present.

“What I told this team in the locker room is there’s not a team I’d rather do this with,” Beeman said. “We’ve had a tough season, and the culture in our locker room is outstanding. These young ladies have shown their character win or lose, and not a lot of people do that.”

Sarah Toeaina scored 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds to move into 15th on the Wahine career scoring chart, passing Brenda McCunn (1,068).

“Playing for her for four years, it’s great,” said Toeaina, who was a sophomore on Beeman’s 2015-16 NCAA tournament team. “To have someone who wants you to succeed, (this) kind of reverses the table and it’s good to see her success and all her accolades building up as she’s here.”

Lahni Salanoa (10 points) had two key late layups set up by Tia Kanoa (seven assists) and Julissa Tago (three) as the Rainbow Wahine closed the game on an 8-2 run, avenging a 69-57 loss at CSUF (7-15, 2-7) to begin conference play. There were eight ties and 17 lead changes.

Closing games has been a problem for these Wahine, who dropped two chances at Beeman’s 100th win on the road last week.

“Me just being calm and finishing strong was just going through my head,” said Salanoa, who went scoreless in the teams’ first meeting. “I didn’t know what the time was on the clock, I wasn’t thinking about anything. I was just playing.”

Freshman center Lauren Rewers added a pair of late field goals and Kenna Woodfolk leaked out for a layup and five-point lead with 27 seconds left.

UH seized a 29-28 halftime lead on Kanoa’s bullet pass to Woodfolk for a layup. Fullerton reclaimed a 40-39 lead going into the fourth quarter, making a homecoming win for first-year coach Jeff Harada — the former coach at Hawaii Pacific — a distinct possibility in front of a vocal Titans cheering section.

“We had some untimely turnovers and they had some timely shots,” Harada lamented. “The game came down to two or three possessions. That’s the tough part about this game.”

Of coming home, Harada said, “It was awesome. Bringing some players here who’d never been here. Some of my coaches are coming here for the first time. Being able to play in front of family and friends, I thought it was really fun. But again, it sucks to go home with this outcome. … We’re happy we’re in this league and it’s going to be a yearly thing. No one-and-done thing. It was great (we) got to see a different side of what most teams probably do when they come here.”

Forward Daeja Smith led the Titans with 18 points and seven rebounds and guard Hannah Thompson added 16 on 5-for-7 3-point shooting.