Rainbow Wahine earn spot in tournament

Take a bow, Kenna Woodfolk. The Rainbow Wahine are going to the Big West tournament.

The sophomore forward scored a career-high 27 points — 18 in the fourth quarter — to lead Hawaii to a 73-64 win over UC Santa Barbara on Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center, clinching a tourney berth in the process.

Woodfolk shot 8-for-9 from the field and Sarah Toeaina added 20 points on 6-for-8 shooting as UH (12-16, 5-10 Big West) put itself out of reach of last-place Cal State Fullerton with a game left in the regular season.

“Just focused on us, because we know when we play our basketball, we can do anything,” said Woodfolk, who scored 22 after halftime from a wide variety of places. She shot 9-for-11 at the line, grabbed seven rebounds, and had two blocks and two steals.

Of her breakout night, she said: “It felt good. But I gotta commend my coaches and teammates because they gave me the ball when it was right, and they drew up plays for me.”

The Rainbow Wahine moved into a three-way tie for sixth with UC Riverside and Long Beach State with only a senior night date with Cal Poly (16-11, 10-5) on Saturday before the tournament. They’ll play a to-be-determined opponent in the first round Tuesday at Fullerton.

“We’re going to the tournament, which is great; we just don’t know (what seeding) yet,” coach Laura Beeman said.

UCSB (12-16, 9-7) sank its first five 3-point looks as the Gauchos led by six at halftime. But the going got tougher from there, as their best player, forward Drew Edelman, was held to 15 points — 12 fewer than her season-high 27 in a 10-point win over UH at the Thunderdome on Feb. 3.

Establishing post players Lauren Rewers and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard early, and switching Lahni Salanoa to power forward freed up Woodfolk to play small forward.

“They had no answer for her posting up, whether it was as a 3 or when Lahni was on the bench and she found spots in the post,” Beeman said.

Toeaina’s runner, and-1, with 3.3 seconds left in the third staked UH to a 46-44 lead going into the fourth. But UCSB scored a three-point play and Sarah Bates followed with a 3 for a 51-46 Gauchos lead.

Woodfolk’s three-point play tied it up at 51 and Edelman picked up her fourth foul on an illegal screen with seven minutes left, forcing her to the bench. Tia Kanoa’s steal and layup made it a 9-0 run.

Woodfolk connected on a turnaround jumper and followed with a right-wing triple to surpass her old career-best 20 and give her team a 61-56 lead with under four minutes left.

UH shot 55.5 percent in the second half compared to 33 percent in the first.

“The hoop was as wide as the ocean around our island,” Toeaina said. “We knew who had the hot hand. We wanted to give her the best looks.”