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Shawna Kuehu put together her first 20-point game and Kamilah Jackson had 20 points and 14 rebounds as the Hawaii women’s basketball team won at UC Riverside 74-61 today.
UH (8-7, 2-1 Big West) obliterated the Highlanders on the backboards, 49-24, in SRC Arena and led by as many as 20 points before UCR (4-13, 0-4) trimmed the margin late.
Kuehu, a senior wing, finished with 22 points on 8-for-14 shooting. Her previous best was 19. Sophomore Destiny King added 12 points and eight rebounds in the win, and junior point guard Morgan Mason tied her UH best of 10 points.
It was Jackson’s Big West-best 10th double-double of the season.
The Wahine shot 27-for-32 at the free-throw line (84.4 percent) and improved to 3-4 in mainland games this season. It was their first Big West road game after UH split two home meetings last week.
UH built off its 15-point halftime lead to deal the last-place Highlanders their 10th straight defeat.
Jackson converted a three-point play for a 48-28 UH lead with less than 14 minutes to go.
UH’s 20-point lead was trimmed to 56-43 with seven minutes remaining on a 3-pointer by Brittany Crain, the Big West’s leading scorer at more than 20 points per game. Crain finished with 21, but no other Highlander had more than 11.
Crain got a steal and a layup to cut it to 67-55 with 2:30 to go. UCR drew within 11, but Kuehu made two free throws to end the immediate threat.
UH jumped out to leads of 20-7 and 30-13 and settled for a 37-22 halftime lead. Jackson had 10 points and six rebounds in the period.
