Wahine roll over UH Hilo

Hawaii coach Laura Beeman emphasized execution entering the Rainbow Wahine basketball team’s lone exhibition game before its season opener.

The Wahine delivered in racing past Hawaii Hilo 90-53 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Wahine led 15-0 less than five minutes into Wednesday’s game and opened the second half with a 13-0 run. All 13 UH players who suited up contributed to the Wahine point total.

Beeman was particularly pleased with UH’s 20 assists against 14 turnovers.

"For the first game against someone else … I thought we did a very, very nice job of sharing the basketball tonight," Beeman said.

"Offensively I thought we had some really pretty possessions. Moved the ball well, executed from the board to the court, which is really nice to see. Defensively, I though we had some good execution but that is probably the area we’re going to struggle the most."

The Rainbow Wahine now have a little more than two weeks to prepare for their season-opening road trip to Colorado. They open the schedule at Colorado State, the preseason favorite to win the Mountain West Conference, on Nov. 14, and face Denver two nights later.

They’ll make their first regular-season appearance at the Sheriff Center on Nov. 21 against California in the Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic.

Junior guard Morgan Mason scored 11 of her game-high 15 points in the first half and Shawna-Lei Kuehu had seven of her 10 in the second. Mason also had eight rebounds, four assists and three steals with just one turnover.

"My focus was on my turnovers and my free throws because in the scrimmage (on Sunday) it wasn’t up to par," Mason said. "I saw the opportunity when I could score so that did help."

Among the newcomers, center Connie Morris contributed nine points and freshman forward Dalayna Sampton came off the bench to post nine points and eight rebounds in the post.

The Wahine cruised despite a rough shooting night for senior Ashleigh Karaitiana, the team’s leading returning scorer. Karaitiana picked up three fouls less than eight minutes into the game, went 3-for-12 from the floor and finished with seven points and six rebounds.

Kirstie Williams led the Division II Vulcans with 11 points and McKenzie Mangino added 10. UH Hilo committed 25 turnovers with the Wahine scoring 33 points off the takeaways.