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The Hawaii women’s basketball team dropped out of first place in the Big West Conference with a 47-43 loss at Cal Poly today in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
UH (14-12, 10-5 BWC) now stands in third place with three home games remaining in the regular season.
Cal Poly (16-9, 10-4) moved into second place behind Pacific (21-6, 11-4), which defeated UC Riverside today.
The Rainbow Wahine faced a 13-point halftime deficit after an abysmal first half, but rallied with an 11-0 run to take their first lead at 39-38 with under seven minutes to play.
After the big run by the Wahine, the teams traded the advantage several times from there.
Senior center Stephanie Ricketts hit two free throws for a 43-42 lead with 2:29 to play, but Mustangs guard Ariana Elegado hit a big 3-pointer on a second-chance shot for a 45-43 lead.
UH turned it over in the backcourt and on the team’s next possession, Monica DeAngelis’ leaning shot from 15 feet was off the mark. The Mustangs called timeout and sealed it with a layup by center Molly Schlemer (20 points, 12 rebounds) with eight seconds left.
Junior forward Kamilah Martin led UH with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Junior wing Shawna Kuehu added 10 points off the bench.
UH shot 4-for-21 in the first half and trailed 28-15 at halftime.
