Rainbow Wahine run into stiff CSUN defense

A frigid shooting performance sent a short-handed University of Hawaii women’s basketball team to a second straight road loss to open the Big West schedule.

The Rainbow Wahine shot 28.1 percent from the field and posted their lowest point total of the season in a 53-46 loss at Cal State Northridge on Saturday.

UH arrived at The Matadome in Northridge, Calif., as the highest-scoring team in the Big West, averaging 71.9 points per game. While defense kept the Wahine in contention for much of the afternoon, they struggled to pair scores with stops and fell to 8-7 overall and 0-2 in Big West play.

CSUN (11-5, 1-1), which topped the Big West preseason poll, didn’t fare much better offensively in shooting 35 percent and finished 13 points below its season average. But guard Ashlee Guay led the Matadors with 16 points, while Janae Sharp and Cinnamon Lister both finished with 12 points and CSUN avoided a sweep in its first homestand of the BWC season.

"They’re a very good team that scores a lot of points, and we were able to hold them. We just struggled to put the ball in the basket," UH coach Laura Beeman said.

"I think our defense affected them offensively. Their defense affected us offensively and our timing was very off tonight. So it put us in positions where we weren’t ready to catch and shoot or to post up. We just have to get better."

UH played without leading scorer Shawna-Lei Kuehu and Sarah Toeaina for a second straight game due to injuries.

Freshman center Megan Huff, who was officially added to the roster less than two weeks ago, made her first start and led the Wahine with 15 points and nine rebounds and five blocks.

The 6-foot-3 Huff, who had 15 blocks as a member of the UH volleyball team in the fall, stuffed three CSUN shots early in the game to spark the Wahine defense, and her total was UH’s highest since Breanna Arbuckle had five blocks against Kent State in 2009.

"I’ve liked offense in the past, but since my shots haven’t been falling I just know I have to work harder on defense so I can make an impact wherever I can," Huff said.

But UH’s defensive efforts went unrewarded on the offensive end for much of the game.

The Wahine didn’t allow a CSUN field goal until the 14:07 mark of the first half, but the Matadors pieced together enough offense to take a 24-19 lead into halftime.

UH went more than nine minutes into the second half without a field goal before Morgan Mason scored on a drive to the basket and the Wahine managed to close to 36-31 with 7:41 left after a Huff layup. But CSUN answered with a 7-0 run and led 43-31 after Guay hit a 3-pointer with 5:58 left.

After hitting a season-high eight 3-pointers in a loss at Cal Poly on Thursday, UH went 1-for-13 from behind the arc against CSUN.

UH will have a full week to prepare for its Big West home opener against UC Riverside on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"We’ll take a couple days off and hopefully get healthy," Beeman said. "It’ll allow us to get on the court and get some of our execution back and get our pace up so we can be a little bit more efficient offensively."

Saturday

CSUN 53, Hawaii 46

Cal Poly 56, UC Santa Barbara 41

Long Beach State 63, UC Davis 60

UC Riverside 71, UC Irvine 58

Thursday

Long Beach State at Cal Poly

CS Fullerton at UC Irvine

UC Riverside at UC Davis

UC Santa Barbara at CSUN