Magic in air in Wahine hoops win

It was a "Magic" night, for both the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine basketball team and the family of the late Judy Mosley-McAfee.

The jersey of the Wahine’s two-time All-American was retired and a banner with Mosley’s name and number hung in the rafters of the Stan Sheriff Center during halftime of Hawaii’s 64-49 convincing Big West victory over Cal State Northridge.

Mosley wore No. 32, in honor of her favorite NBA player Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

Down on the court, Hawaii (13-7, 5-2) celebrated her legacy along with a crowd of 1,085 with its fifth consecutive victory — the longest streak since 2006-07 — and ran its home conference winning streak to 10.

The Rainbow Wahine did it with balance and boards, with five players scoring at least eight points and a 54-34 margin in rebounds. Junior guard Destiny King led the way with 15 points, the sixth time in seven games she’s been in double digits, and freshman center Megan Huff recorded her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Huff also had five blocks, the same number she had in the 53-46 loss at CSUN three weeks ago.

"I just like playing against them," Huff said, her points all coming in the first half when Hawaii took a 35-19 lead. "I think our team chemistry is really good right now and we’re playing well together."

It showed with 16 assists on 24 field goals and a defense that held the Matadors (14-8, 4-4) to 17 points below their scoring average. The Wahine also held reigning Big West Player of the Year Ashlee Guay to six second-half points, nine points below the senior guard’s average.

"This was another tremendous win for this group of young ladies," Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said. "We came in with a different feeling than the Long Beach game (a 72-64 win Thursday). There was a lot of emotion then. Tonight it was business as usual and I was a little concerned about the energy level.

"They proved me wrong. The first half is what won it for us tonight. We pushed when we needed to push."

And the Wahine pushed back when it got physical. Senior guard Ashleigh Karaitiana took several of what has become her patented charges and laughed when saying that her mouthguard was saving her lip.

Karaitiana was held to five points at CSUN. This time she had six in the first three minutes, finishing with 10.

"We really wanted this one, we should have beaten them there," Karaitiana said. "We were able to avenge that.

"The goal is still to win the conference. We’re taking it one game at a time."

On paper, this past week was the tougher of two consecutive weeks at home. Hawaii hosts UC Santa Barbara (0-20, 0-7) on Thursday and then league-leading Cal Poly (11-9, 6-2) on Saturday.

Hawaii doesn’t want to let up now, not with the effort of the past two games, particularly on defense. The Rainbow Wahine limited the Matadors to just four free throws in the final 8:33 with CSUN going 0-for-11 from the field after Camille Mahlknecht’s layup cut UH’s lead to 17-15.

Hawaii pulled away, using a 10-0 run over the last 2:36 to take a 35-19 lead into the locker room. When the Wahine returned, the Mosley family was on the court receiving a framed replica jersey and a standing ovation.

After the game, the team took pictures with the family on the court.

"It was a memorable experience," Karaitiana said. "Everyone on this team aspires to be like her."

Mosley-McAfee, who played from 1987 to 1990, died in 2013 at age 43 after a battle with cancer. She remains the all-time leading scorer (2, 479) and rebounder (1,441) in program history and still holds 27 records, split between single-game, single-season and career.

Saturday

Hawaii 64, CSUN 49

UC Davis 60, UC Santa Barbara 54, OT

Cal Poly 74, UC Irvine 58

Long Beach State 74, Cal State Fullerton 70

Thursday

UC Santa Barbara at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center

Long Beach State at UC Irvine

Cal State Fullerton at UC Riverside

CSUN at UC Davis

Saturday, Feb. 7

Cal Poly at Hawaii, 5 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center

UC Irvine at UC Davis

Cal State Fullerton at CSUN

Long Beach State at UC Riverside

Halftime — Hawaii 35, CSUN 19

3-point goals — CSUN 3-7 (Guay 1-1, King 1-1, Lister 1-3, Cole 0-1, Gilling 0-1). Hawaii 1-11 (Karaitiana 1-5, Harris 0-2, Segovia 0-4). Steals — CSUN 3 (Guay 2, Fong). Hawaii 3 (Segovia, King, Harris). Turnovers — CSUN 9 (Sharpe 4, Guay 2, Mahlknecht, Cole, Friess). Hawaii 14 (Morris 3, Wimbley 3, Huff 3, Mason 2, Segovia 2, Kuehu). Assists — CSUN 5 (Sharpe 3, Guay 2). Hawaii 16 (Mason 5, King 3, Karaitiana 2, Segovia 2, Kuehu 2, Morris, Harris). Blocked shots — CSUN 3 (Mahlknecht 2, Guay). Hawaii 7 (Huff 5, Kuehu 2). Technical fouls — LBSU none. Hawaii none.  Officials — Marianne Karp, Erick Thome, Mason Souza. A — 1,085.