74
Pacific avenged last season’s home loss to Hawaii with a 69-61 victory over the Rainbow Wahine basketball team on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
UOP guard Hailie Eackles drained three 3-pointers and scored all of her 13 points in the second half to spark the Tigers before a crowd of 691 at the Stan Sheriff Center. UOP center Kendall Kenyon finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Shawna-Lei Kuehu scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in UH’s third straight loss. Ashleigh Karaitiana and Morgan Mason finished with 10 points each.
After UH jumped out to an early lead, UOP went on a 14-3 run and maintained the lead until the final minute of the first half.
UH was 0-for-5 from 3-point range until Karaitiana drained one from the corner with 53 seconds left to cut UOP’s lead to one. On UH’s next possession, she drove the baseline for a layup to give UH the lead.
Karaitiana then drew a charge against Madison Parrish with 10.7 seconds lead, which drew the ire of the UOP coaching staff and Lynne Roberts was called for a technical foul. Shawlina Segovia hit one of two free throws and UH took a 31-29 lead into halftime.
UOP broke away early in the second half with a 13-1 run and took a 44-34 lead when Eackles hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions.
The Tigers maintained control into the final minute but UH stayed within striking distance when Segovia hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to four with 37.1 seconds left.
But UOP’s Unique Coleman came up with two steals down the stretch and the Tigers pulled away from the free-throw line.
