Lack of focus costs Wahine

Inconsistency put an end to Hawaii’s unbeaten home record in the Big West Conference.

The high of an emotional win over Cal Poly on Thursday gave way to a disappointing low on Saturday, a 51-50 defeat to UC Santa Barbara at the Stan Sheriff Center. The UH women (9-10, 5-3) entered the day chasing league leader Pacific but instead dropped into a second-place tie with Cal State Northridge.

"I don’t know if it’s the youth, a lack of leadership still at times we’re struggling with. But we’re going to have to figure out how to stay more consistent," first-year coach Laura Beeman said. "We can be really good. But when we don’t come out and play and don’t come out and focus, we are a very average team."

UCSB guard Nicole Nesbit scored the go-ahead layup with 12.5 seconds left after UH failed to grab the rebound on a missed 1-and-1 free throw by Gauchos forward Kirsten Tilleman.

UH dribbled upcourt and called timeout to set up a play with nine seconds left. But Ashleigh Karaitiana’s post pass to Shawna Kuehu was broken up by UCSB forward Sweets Underwood, and the ball went out of bounds back to UH with only 0.7 seconds left.

Beeman called timeout again, but Karaitiana’s inbounds pass to Pua Kailiawa wasn’t fielded cleanly. Kailiawa caught the ball in midair at the left elbow, but her desperation heave did not draw iron.

"It didn’t come down to that play. We all know that," Beeman said.

Kamilah Martin scored 14 points with seven rebounds to lead the Wahine before a vocal crowd of 793. Vicky Tagalicod added 11 off the bench, including a pair of baskets that put UH up by a point in the final four minutes.

Those fragile leads would not last. UCSB (8-11, 4-3) played only seven players but succeeded in imposing a grind-it-out style with baskets late in the shot clock. Guard Melissa Zornig led the Gauchos with 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting.

UH trailed 11-2 in the opening minutes against one of the best defensive teams in the conference. The Wahine eventually battled back to take a 25-23 halftime lead, but didn’t earn a lead larger than six points in the second half.

"From the beginning we weren’t focused. The bench players had to … bring the energy," said freshman point guard Marissa Wimbley, who had a season-high eight points, including the first two 3-pointers of her UH career. "Like Coach said, it was the little things. We didn’t go for the loose balls. It just came down to our focus. And if we’re not focused, we’re not playing Hawaii basketball."

Sophomore center Kalei Adolpho tied her season high of nine points as UH looked to operate through the middle early.

UH had only six turnovers but could not dominate the rebounding game, finishing with a season-low 29 to UCSB’s 26.

"I think I took (rebounding) for granted. … It’s something you need to work hard for," Adolpho said. "You need to think about it every game."

UH had just one turnover through the first 30 minutes, but gave it away on back-to-back possessions with less than nine minutes to go. The Gauchos took their first lead of the period. The teams traded the lead several times from there.

Martin moved into sole possession of third on the program rebounding list at 823, passing Tanya Smith. She leapfrogged Tondi Redden (1,023) for 15th on the scoring list at 1,030.