Was a road sweep minus Hawaii’s best player too much to ask for?
Not to Rainbow Wahine coach Laura Beeman, who expressed disappointment when her Kamilah Jackson-less team came up short in a 56-52 decision at UC Davis’ Pavilion in an early afternoon game on Saturday in California.
UH (14-11, 8-5 Big West) was unable to protect a late six-point lead with some of the team’s role players forced to step up. The Rainbow Wahine slipped back into third place in the conference standings with three games to play in the regular season.
"As far as letting (Jackson’s absence) be an excuse or some kind of consolation, right now, no," Beeman said in a postgame phone interview. "We should have won this game, and just because of some lapses of concentration and focus we didn’t. So, it’s no different when Mia goes out with foul trouble. We have to win ballgames, and if we put ourselves in position to win them, we have to close games out."
The team’s leading scorer and rebounder has been sidelined with a right foot injury for three straight games, in which UH fell to 2-1. UH won on a tip-in, 55-54, at UC Irvine on Thursday.
UH continues play at home Thursday against Long Beach State (15-11, 7-5). Beeman was unsure if Jackson would return by then.
Sophomore Destiny King scored 12 points and senior Shawna Kuehu added 10 to lead the Wahine. Junior center Kalei Adolpho snared a season-high 11 rebounds off the bench.
UH dominated Davis (11-14, 6-6) on the glass, 43-24, but gave away that advantage with poor ball control; UCD committed just nine turnovers to UH’s 16. The Aggies sank 11 of 21 shots (52.4 percent) in the second half in completing their comeback.
"We just turned the ball over too much. Again," Beeman said. "On the road you can’t do that. Besides turnovers, we blew some really, really important defensive schemes that we hadn’t struggled with all night at the end of the game. Instead of going over some screens, went under some screens. And they capitalized. You just can’t do that when you’re on the road and you have a team that shoots well from the 3-point line. So for some reason we just kind of lost our minds down the stretch."
Kuehu hit a jumper with 1:06 to get the Wahine within 52-49, but Davis’ Molly Greubel responded with a 3-pointer to push the lead to six.
Ashleigh Karaitiana hit a 3-pointer with 37 seconds left to get UH within 55-52 and the Wahine took a foul. Sydnee Fipps (game-high 22 points) made one of two at the line for the final margin.
| BIG WEST WOMEN |
| |
CONFERENCE |
OVERALL |
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L |
| CS Northridge |
9 |
4 |
.692 |
— |
13 |
14 |
| Cal Poly |
9 |
4 |
.692 |
— |
15 |
11 |
| Hawaii |
8 |
5 |
.615 |
1 |
14 |
11 |
| Long Beach St. |
7 |
5 |
.583 |
2 |
15 |
11 |
| CS Fullerton |
6 |
6 |
.500 |
21⁄2 |
10 |
15 |
| UC Irvine |
6 |
6 |
.500 |
21⁄2 |
13 |
13 |
| UC Davis |
6 |
6 |
.500 |
21⁄2 |
11 |
14 |
| UCSB |
3 |
9 |
.250 |
51⁄2 |
8 |
17 |
| UC Riverside |
2 |
11 |
.154 |
7 |
6 |
20 |
| |
| Saturday |
| UC Davis 56, Hawaii 52 |
| UC Irvine 76, CS Northridge 72 |
| UC Santa Barbara 64, CS Fullerton 54 |
| Cal Poly 83, UC Riverside 72 |
| |
| UC DAVIS 56, HAWAII 52 |
| RAINBOW WAHINE (14-11, 8-5 BIG WEST) |
|
fg-a |
ft-a |
rb |
pf |
pts |
a |
to |
min |
| King |
3-9 |
6-8 |
6 |
3 |
12 |
2 |
4 |
35 |
| Kailiawa |
1-1 |
0-0 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
|
| Haydel |
2-4 |
0-0 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
30 |
| Kuehu |
5-9 |
0-0 |
0 |
4 |
10 |
1 |
1 |
17 |
| Mason |
0-7 |
2-2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
28 |
| Wimbley |
1-2 |
0-0 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
| Harris |
0-1 |
2-2 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
12 |
| Moore |
2-3 |
00 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
| Karaitiana |
3-12 |
0-0 |
9 |
2 |
7 |
2 |
1 |
28 |
| Adolpho |
2-6 |
1-3 |
11 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
29 |
| TEAM |
|
|
1 |
| Totals |
19-54 |
11-15 |
43 |
23 |
52 |
13 |
16 |
200 |
| |
| AGGIES (11-14, 6-6 BIG WEST) |
|
fg-a |
ft-a |
rb |
pf |
pts |
a |
to |
min |
| Marfone |
0-2 |
1-3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
22 |
| Fipps |
9-16 |
3-4 |
4 |
4 |
22 |
0 |
2 |
31 |
| Doherty |
5-10 |
5-7 |
4 |
4 |
15 |
1 |
4 |
27 |
| Greubel |
1-2 |
1-2 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
37 |
| Harris |
1-3 |
0-2 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
26 |
| Johnson |
0-3 |
1-2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
| Oryon |
2-4 |
2-2 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
19 |
| McGuire |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
| Beyer |
1-1 |
0-0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
11 |
| Salvatore |
0-3 |
2-4 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
| TEAM |
|
|
3 |
|
|
|
|
| Totals |
19-44 |
15-26 |
24 |
17 |
56 |
10 |
9 |
200 |
Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.
Halftime — Hawaii 23, UC Davis 23.
3-point goals — Hawaii 3-10 (Moore 1-1, Wimbley 1-2, Karaitiana 1-4, Kuehu 0-1, Mason 0-1, Harris 0-1). UC Davis 3-9 (Greubel 1-1, Harris 1-1, Fipps 1-5, Johnson 0-1, Oryon 0-1). Steals — Hawaii 1 (Haydel). UC Davis 9 (Marfone 2, Greubel 2, Doherty, Harris, Oryon, Beyer, Salvatore). Blocked shots — Hawaii 1 (Kailiawa). UC Davis 1 (Doherty). Technical fouls — none. Officials — Cathi Corell, Kyle Bacon, Darren Krzesnik. A — 512.
