San Jose State spoils Wahine’s WAC opener

The Hawaii women’s basketball team fell 83-67 at San Jose State on Saturday night to open its final season of Western Athletic Conference play.

UH (5-11 overall) trailed by 11 at halftime at The Event Center in San Jose, Calif., and failed to gain ground on the Spartans (6-10, 1-0) in the second half.

"We were trying to battle back into this game for most of it. We let it get away from us in the first half and were unable to recover," UH coach Dana Takahara-Dias said in a postgame phone interview.

"I thought offensively and defensively … we struggled tonight. We were unable to get a rhythm."

The Wahine shot 36.2 percent, compared with 42.4 percent for SJSU, but the real damage was done at the free-throw line.

SJSU earned 34 trips to the charity stripe, converting 28 (82.3 percent), compared with 13-for-21 for UH (61.9 percent).

UH dropped its sixth straight WAC opener. Half of those have come on the road.

"I don’t feel the travel had any bearings," Takahara-Dias said. "The disappointing thing is we were unable to get this win like we had anticipated. The road travel doesn’t get any easier from here."

UH returns home to play Louisiana Tech on Thursday and New Mexico State on Saturday.

Sophomore guard Sydney Haydel led UH with 17 points off the bench on 5-for-9 shooting. Senior forward Breanna Arbuckle added 11 points and seven rebounds, and sophomore forward Vicky Tagalicod chipped in 10 points. Sophomore forward Kamilah Jackson, the league’s top rebounder, snared a game-high 13 boards.

Senior forward Brittany Johnson led the Spartans with 22 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Guard Sara Plavljanin added 19 points.