Kuehu powers Wahine past the Beach

In Shawna Kuehu’s own words, it was about time.

The Hawaii senior wing scored 14 straight points for the Rainbow Wahine over a six-minute span in the second half as part of a career-best 28-point night, and UH fended off Long Beach State 82-71 on Thursday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Kuehu’s outburst before a crowd of 671 was needed, as UH was without top scorer and rebounder Kamilah Jackson (sprained foot) for the fourth straight game. The Wahine (15-11, 9-5 Big West) improved to 3-1 without her and moved into a second-place tie with reeling Cal Poly with two games remaining.

Kuehu’s previous best was 22, set earlier this season at UC Riverside. She shot 9-for-16 from the field and 10-for-13 at the free-throw line, while adding nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.

"To have (Jackson) out of the game, that’s a huge contributing factor that we don’t have," Kuehu said. "So somebody else needs to step up. And why not it be me? This team has looked to me for leadership, has trusted me, has had confidence in me. And honestly, to them, it’s kinda saying, it’s about time. This is about time for me."

Senior center Pua Kailiawa added career bests of 13 points and 10 rebounds for her first double-double. UH won the rebounding battle by eight, with her and Kuehu doing much of the dirty work.

"It feels amazing, actually," Kailiawa said.

Guard Morgan Mason added 13 of her career-best 16 points in the second half, going 5-for-5 in the period.

The Wahine shot 50.8 percent from the field and scored 40 points in the paint without Jackson, its double-double machine. UH now prepares for senior night next Thursday vs. UC Santa Barbara not knowing if the four-year star will be able to take the floor.

"We need to continue to step up without Mia," coach Laura Beeman said. "Not only are (her teammates) doing it for her, but they’re doing it because of her, because of what she’s put them through for a multitude of days of really tough practices."

UH saw a 20-point lead trimmed to seven with 10 minutes remaining. But the Wahine would not allow it to become another final-possession game like their 74-72 loss at The Pyramid on Jan. 30.

On a key play with 8:21 left, Kuehu threw a pass and had it deflected back into her hands. She took the opportunity and ran with it, driving hard to the hoop and completing a hanging runner while absorbing contact to extend the lead back to double digits.

She pumped her fist in the air emphatically and let out a yell on the play.

"She’s a young lady that’s worked incredibly hard," Beeman said. "She wasn’t able to play against Long Beach and it broke her heart. Shawna had a little bit of a chip on her shoulder coming into this game that Long Beach didn’t beat us with our guns fully loaded. And she wanted to show tonight what it meant that she only played six minutes of that game (due to illness)."

Long Beach State (15-12, 7-6) got it to six on a basket by Ella Clark with 1:42 left and again to six on Clark’s free throw with 56 seconds to go. UH put it away from there with a significant part of an 18-for-22 night at the stripe.

Point guard Anna Kim led the 49ers with 20 points in the loss.

Kailiawa got the starting nod in Jackson’s stead and responded with nine first-half points as UH took a 40-28 lead into the break.

Both teams wore pink highlights on their warmup jerseys as part of the national Play 4 Kay initiative for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played. Halftime — Hawaii 40, Long Beach State 28. 3-point goals — Long Beach State 4-18 (Kim 3-6, Clark 1-5, Benton 0-2, Meneses 0-5). Hawaii 4-11 (Kailiawa 1-1, Mason 1-1, Harris 1-3, Karaitiana 1-5, Moore 0-1). Steals — Long Beach State 7 (Meneses 4, Wilson, Kim, Sawyer). Hawaii 4 (Kuehu 2, Haydel, King). Blocked shots — Long Beach State 3 (Wilson 2, Clark). Hawaii 4 (Kailiawa, Haydel, Kuehu, King). Technical fouls — none. Officials — Kevin Rose, Andy Wolf, Mason Souza. A — 671.