UH blows by Santa Barbara in second half
It was a quick trip for the Hawaii women’s basketball team, to California and back in less than 52 hours.
The same can be said for the Rainbow Wahine’s turnaround in the second half in Thursday night’s Big West game with host UC Santa Barbara.
Holding onto a slim 30-28 lead with 17:53 left, Hawaii used a 14-0 run over the next 7 minutes to run away to a 60-36 victory over the last-place Gauchos at the Thunderdome in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Junior guard Destiny King scored 11 points to lead a balanced attack for the Rainbow Wahine (21-7, 13-2) whose winning streak of 13 matched the second-half point total for UCSB (2-26, 2-13).
Junior center Connie Morris and freshman forward Dalayna Sampton added nine points each in Hawaii’s AYSO-like night, where 11 players saw court time and nine scored.
King just missed a double-double, adding nine boards as the Rainbow Wahine out rebounded the Gauchos 42-31.
"It was nice to get everyone on the floor. We had a lot of great minutes from our youngsters," said Hawaii coach Laura Beeman. "It was fun to see them in the last seven minutes or so — think we had four freshmen and a sophomore — and they had fantastic energy. Not only did they keep our lead, they grew the lead."
Beeman rested Ashleigh Karaitiana, the senior guard’s first missed game of her career. She had played in all 88 previously, including 26 this season with 25 starts, averaging the most minutes on the team (30.4).
Hawaii didn’t need her. Using 14-0 runs in both halves the Rainbow Wahine’s offense sputtered a bit before getting into high gear.
Down 20-16 in the first half, Hawaii began its move. King’s jumper gave the Rainbow Wahine their first lead since the opening minutes at 21-20; her free throw some seven later made it 30-20.
After Hawaii saw its 30-23 halftime lead cut to 30-28, the Rainbow Wahine refocused. A second 14-0 run clinched the 13th straight victory, the longest since the 1997-98 team won 19 straight.
Sophomore point guard Onome Jemerigbe led the Gauchos with 14 points, seven coming in the first four minutes. The loss eliminated UCSB from next week’s Big West tournament.
"Sometimes it takes a while to get the plane out of the legs," Beeman said of the slow start. "But the girls locked in and (junior guard) Marissa Wimbley had a fantastic game defensively.
"I hope a lot of people come out Saturday, fill up the Stan Sheriff Center and support a team that is playing well and doing it in such a positive way."
Hawaii finishes the regular-season with Saturday’s 5 p.m. contest against Cal State Fullerton. It is senior night for Karaitiana, Shawna-Lei Kuehu, Morgan Mason and Shawlina Segovia.
CSUN sewed up the second seed for next week’s tournament, courtesy of a 77-60 victory over Long Beach State Thursday night.
"If all holds true we’ll see CSUN in the championship game," Beeman said.
| BIG WEST WOMEN | ||||||
| CONFERENCE | OVERALL | |||||
| W | L | Pct. | GB | W | L | |
| x-Hawaii | 13 | 2 | .867 | — | 21 | 7 |
| y-CSUN | 11 | 5 | .687 | 21⁄2 | 21 | 9 |
| Cal Poly | 9 | 6 | .600 | 4 | 14 | 13 |
| Long Beach St. | 8 | 7 | .557 | 5 | 21 | 8 |
| UC Riverside | 8 | 7 | .557 | 5 | 17 | 12 |
| UC Davis | 8 | 7 | .557 | 5 | 13 | 14 |
| CS Fullerton | 5 | 10 | .333 | 8 | 11 | 17 |
| UC Irvine | 4 | 11 | .876 | 9 | 7 | 22 |
| UCSB | 2 | 13 | .133 | 11 | 2 | 26 |
x-clinched conference regular season title and #1 seed in BWC tournament
y-clinched second seed
Thursday
Hawaii 60, UC Santa Barbara 36
CSUN 77, Long Beach State 60
UC Riverside 61, UC Davis 56
Cal State Fullerton 66, UC Irvine 54
Saturday
CS Fullerton at Hawaii, 5 p.m., Stan Sheriff
UC Santa Barbara at Cal Poly
UC Davis at UC Irvine
UC Riverside at Long Beach State
End Regular season
Big West Tournament
At Fullerton, Calif.
Tuesday’s first round
No. 5 seed vs. No. 8 seed, 3 p.m.
No. 6 seed vs. No. 7 seed, 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday’s quarterfinals
No. 3 seed vs. lowest remaining seed, 3 p.m.
No. 4 seed vs. highest remaining seed, 5:30 p.m.
At Anaheim, Calif.
Friday’s semifinals
Hawaii vs. lowest remaining seed, 9 a.m.
CSUN vs. highest remaining seed, 11:30 a.m.
Saturday’s championship
Semifinal winners, noon
| HAWAII 60, SANTA BARBARA 36 | |||||||
| RAINBOW WAHINE (21-7, 13-2) | |||||||
| min | fg-a | ft-a | rb | pf | pts | ||
| Wimbley | 23 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | |
| Kuehu | 21 | 3-9 | 2-2 | 5 | 0 | 8 | |
| Segovia | 22 | 1-6 | 1-2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | |
| Morris | 12 | 4-7 | 1-2 | 4 | 1 | 9 | |
| King | 27 | 4-6 | 3-6 | 9 | 1 | 11 | |
| Redmon | 8 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Harris | 20 | 3-6 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| Toeaina | 26 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Jones | 7 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Sampton | 19 | 3-5 | 3-5 | 2 | 1 | 9 | |
| Huff | 15 | 3-4 | 2-2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | |
| TEAM | 6 | ||||||
| Totals | 200 | 24-51 | 12-20 | 42 | 13 | 60 | |
| GAUCHOS (2-26, 2-13) | |||||||
| min | fg-a | ft-a | rb | pf | pts | ||
| Brance | 26 | 2-8 | 0-0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | |
| Ware | 33 | 3-8 | 0-0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | |
| Jemerigbe | 35 | 5-6 | 2-4 | 4 | 3 | 14 | |
| Farris | 34 | 2-7 | 1-1 | 7 | 1 | 5 | |
| Watkins | 22 | 2-9 | 0-0 | 5 | 5 | 4 | |
| Callahan | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Maragnes | 7 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Morrison | 6 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Durr | 19 | 0-4 | 0-2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
| Lopez | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Roper | 9 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wright | 6 | 1-4 | 1-1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| TEAM | 1 | ||||||
| Totals | 200 | 15-52 | 4-8 | 31 | 18 | 36 |
Halftime — Hawaii 30, UCSB 23
3-point goals — Hawaii 0-5 (Jones 0-1, Redmon 0-1, Segovia 0-1, Harris 0-2). UC Santa Barbara 2-7 (Jemerigbe 2-2, Morrison 0-1, Roper 0-1, Brance 0-3). Steals — Hawaii 7 (Harris 2, Wimbley 2, King, Kuehu, Sampton). UC Santa Barbara 7 (Farris 3, Jemerigbe 3, Ware). Turnovers — Hawaii 13 (Kuehu 2, Morris 2, Segovia 2, Harris, Huff, Jones, Redmon, Sampton, Toeaina, Wimbley). UC Santa Barbara 15 (Farris, 3, Ware 3, Jemerigbe 2, Callahan 2, Watkins 2, Brance, Roper, TEAM). Assists — Hawaii 14 (Harris 5, Huff 2, King 2, Segovia 2, Kuehu, Toeaina, Wimbley). UC Santa Barbara 8 (Farris 3, Brance 2, Watkins 2, Maragnes). Blocked shots — Hawaii 4 (Morris 2, Huff, Kuehu). UC Santa Barbara none. Technical fouls — Hawaii none. UC Santa Barbara none. Officials — Steve Belnap, Jen Zylstra, Julie Krommenhoek. A — 411
