Some fancy footwork and a trusty touch around the basket have Hawaii in prime position for the Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic championship.

Monster games from seniors Kamilah Jackson and Shawna Kuehu pushed UH past Ole Miss 79-63 on Day 2 of the four-team round-robin tournament on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Jackson went for 30 points on 11-for-13 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Kuehu scored a career-best 19 points with eight boards as UH separated from a back-and-forth game early in the second half to win its third straight.

Both did almost all of their damage from the paint, where the Wahine outscored the Rebels 44-32, and won the rebounding battle 45-34. That will be a focal point again today at 5 p.m. against West Virginia (2-1), a physical interior team.

"Coach (Laura Beeman) always talks about weak-side boards," said Jackson, who operated quickly and confidently in the post. "So every time a shot went up I went weak-side. Shots were falling."

She completed two old-fashioned three-point plays on consecutive possessions in the final minutes to attain her second-career 30-point game, one off her career best from her freshman year.

UH put up its best shooting marks of the young season from the field (47.4 percent) and the free-throw line (79.3 percent), overcoming 20 turnovers and 2-for-12 shooting on 3-pointers.

Kuehu shot 8-for-12 a night after struggling with her shot in a win over Washington State. She completed a layup on a sweet bounce pass in fast-break traffic from backup point guard Briana Harris during a 13-2 run, breaking the game open after it was knotted at 40.

"Honestly, my teammates made me look good," Kuehu said. "It was a good team win, and that’s exactly what happened. They found me."

An afternoon crowd of 615 saw the Wahine (3-1) attain their best mark to open the season since 2010-11 under Dana Takahara-Dias (4-1), also the last year UH beat a Southeastern Conference school.

Matching that mark against WVU could take a herculean effort.

"We have our hands full (today)," Beeman said. "They’re going to be a Top 25 team, I think, in the country. It’s an opportunity for us to get better. It’s an opportunity for us to really continue to work. We’re going to see if we can come up with a different game plan and execute it."

Mississippi (1-3) was thrown into disarray in the preseason when its new coach, Adrian Wiggins — you might remember him from Fresno State in UH’s WAC days — and half of his staff were fired before a single game due to recruiting issues.

The Rebels couldn’t get anything consistent going. Guard Valencia McFarland led the Rebels with 14 points and three steals.

UH answered an 11-0 Ole Miss first-half run with a 10-0 spurt of its own, going up 34-31 in the final minute of the period.

That’s about when starting point guard Morgan Mason came up limping. Harris took control and went scoreless (but had two assists) a night after scoring 21 in her home debut.

"We’ll probably shut her down for the weekend," Beeman said of Mason. "There’s no sense in playing her. I think it’s a hamstring. We’ll see how bad it is and when she can go."

Ole Miss forward Tia Faleru had a three-point play to end the half, tying it up at 34.

Earlier in the day, WVU defeated Washington State — and the Cougars’ local products Lia Galdeira and Dawnyelle Awa — 88-66. Galdeira had 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting and Awa added seven points, four rebounds and four assists.

WMU (1-3) meets Ole Miss at 2:30 p.m. today.