Turnovers prove costly in Hawaii’s loss to Arizona

More questions than answers.

That in itself may be the answer to Hawaii’s struggles early this basketball season.

There are questions about the ball-handling, questions about free-throw shooting and, perhaps the most frustrating, questions about the continuing turnover problems.

The Rainbow Wahine hit their turnover average exactly while being dispatched 75-49 by No. 16 Arizona State on Saturday. Hawaii committed 20, including 11 in the first 20 minutes of its Waikiki Beach Marriott Shootout game against the on-a-mission Sun Devils.

ASU (2-2, 1-1) rebounded from Friday’s disappointing loss to No. 2 South Carolina — the Gamecocks won 60-58 on two free throws with 0.6 seconds left — with balance and execution. Senior guard Katie Hempen and junior center Quinn Dornstauder each scored 12 points, and the Sun Devils scored 31 points off Wahine turnovers in dominating the game after the first period.

“They capitalized on every mistake we made,” said Hawaii senior guard Destiny King, who finished with a game-high 16 points. “The only thing keeping us in the game was our rebounding (a 36-24 edge).

“We just weren’t seeing things as a team.”

Hawaii (4-2, 1-1) will see its second ranked team in as many days when it takes on No. 2 South Carolina (6-0, 2-0) in today’s 5 p.m. finale. The Gamecocks outscored Cal State Bakersfield 26-14 in the fourth period to remain undefeated.

The Roadrunners (1-4, 0-2) and Sun Devils (2-2, 1-1) meet in today’s opener at 2:30 p.m.

“When you have to play back-to-back-to-back, you don’t have time to work on things,” Wahine coach Laura Beeman said. “We have to be able to make the in-game adjustments better.

“I’m not happy giving up 75 points to Arizona State. We can’t keep turning over the ball like we have and there is this inability to execute the post entry pass. We’re not getting the ball inside to our bigs.

“We WILL get better. We’ve got to execute better. We need to make some changes.”

One change could be as soon as today regarding starting junior guard Bri Harris, who had three fouls and four turnovers in just eight minutes against ASU.

“I don’t think she came ready to play, had a salty attitude,” Beeman said. “She’s got some soul-searching to do, and if it doesn’t change, she’ll have less than eight minutes of playing time.”

As for turning things around, “one question is ball-handling,” Beeman said. “It’s the ‘why.’ We have to fix it.

“We faced a really good team tonight, maybe the best team we’ll see all season. They figured us out pretty quickly and we got a little frantic. They were on a mission after losing two of their key players.”

Starting forwards Kelsey Moos and Sophie Brunner were injured in the second half of Friday’s loss to South Carolina.

Things fell apart early for Hawaii after taking what would be its last lead at 13-12 just 25 seconds into the second period. King’s jumper would be the Wahine’s last basket for almost five minutes as the Sun Devils went on a 12-0 run to take control for good at 24-13.

ASU outscored Hawaii 25-9 in the second period, including eight points from the 6-foot-4 Dornstauder. The Sun Devils also outscored the Wahine 23-10 after in the first eight minutes after halftime and led by as many as 31 (71-40) with 3:57 remaining.

Hawaii sophomore forward Megan Huff came off the bench for 11 points and a team-high six rebounds, The Wahine finished 10-for-19 from the line one night after going 27-for-40 in the 74-60 win over Bakersfield.

ASU had just six turnovers, only two in the first half.

South Carolina 90, Cal State Bakersfield 71

Sophomore forward A’ja Wilson tied her career high with 26 points and the Gamecocks remained unbeaten by pulling away from the Roadrunners.

The 6-5 Wilson was 10-for-14 from the field and 6-for-9 from the line, with eight rebounds, four assists and four blocks. She also got plenty of help from senior guards Bianca Cuevas (career-high 20 points) and Tiffany Mitchell (13).

Senior forward Batabe Zempare led the Roadrunners with 19 points and eight rebounds. Bakersfield trailed just 45-37 at half and 64-57 after three periods.