75
A balanced scoring night propelled the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team to its highest point total of the season in an 83-65 road win over UC Irvine today at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif.
UH forward Megan Huff led the Rainbow Wahine (10-8, 3-2 Big West) with 15 points and nine rebounds and guards Ashleigh Karaitiana and Marissa Wimbley added 11 points each. The Wahine and Anteaters (3-16, 0-5), who dropped their 11th straight, meet again in nine days at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Seven UH players contributed at least seven points and the Wahine outrebounded UCI 52-27, with 19 offensive rebounds leading to an 18-3 advantage in second-chance points.
After UC Irvine crept out to a 9-5 lead, UH broke away with a 24-4 run to take control. UH guard Olivia Crawford tied the game at 11-11 by converting a steal into a layup. Wimbley hit a jumper then pulled up for a 3-pointer to extend the lead and Huff’s turnaround jumper in the lane gave UH its biggest lead of the half at 27-11.
UH and UCI traded baskets for much of the second quarter and the Wahine took a 45-33 lead into halftime.
UCI closed to within eight in the third quarter, but UH responded with a 17-2 burst. After Crawford found Destiny King for an open jumper, she came up with a steal and UCI’s Raelyn Cheung-Sutton was called for an intentional foul. Crawford made both free throws, King hit another jumper and Briana Kennedy scored in the post to extend UH’s lead to 55-39.
Kennedy later fed Huff for a layup while drawing a foul and the free throw gave UH its largest lead at 64-41.
UH concludes its road trip Saturday at CSUN.
Megan Huff could be the Jankovic of the Wahine. She has length and skills and can run. She also has a great touch from short range and shoots free throws well. I can see her game blossoming. She should start. The men’s coaches who coaches the bigs, should work with Megan.
Only one unbeaten team in conference now since Davies got beat. UH down to 4th now. Unless they turn things around they can forget about being conference champs this year.