Rainbow Wahine open season with blowout loss

LOS ANGELES >> Hawaii’s inexperienced, depleted women’s basketball team surmounted a major obstacle while beginning the season with its worst loss in three years.

USC took early command and led by as many as 37 points before dispatching the Rainbow Wahine 76-44 on Friday night at USC’s Galen Center.

The defeat was UH’s most one-sided since Arizona State’s 84-44 rout on Nov. 9, 2013 in Tempe, Ariz.

The Women of Troy faced a team that dressed only eight players — two of them upperclassmen — because of injuries. Three were freshmen, including 6-foot-2 Makenna Woodfolk, who made her collegiate debut as the Wahine’s starting center.

“I really didn’t know what to expect,” UH coach Laura Beeman said.

Her players provided a pleasant surprise.

“Their composure was amazing, actually,” Beeman said. “I anticipated more bickering on the bench, more frustration and negativity. I didn’t see it. They had a fight and a look in their eyes the whole time that said, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!’

“For a very young team that could have quit or become very angry, that’s very encouraging.”

Such resiliency enabled the Wahine to accomplish at least part of their game plan.

“Overall, I’m pretty happy with what I saw,” Beeman said. “I wanted us to be able to execute some of our stuff offensively and defensively, and I think we did all of those things. Our ability to attack a little bit was fun to see. We need to read on those attacks a little bit better than we did. But overall, we competed tonight.”

Rebounding, however, proved to be a major deficiency. USC grabbed 44 rebounds to UH’s 26, and the Wahine had only one offensive team rebound before Woodfolk secured one with four minutes to play.

“That’s not acceptable,” Beeman said. “We’ll get better.”

Woodfolk finished with six rebounds and 6-foot-3 Taylor Donahue, another freshman, added five to lead UH. Briana Harris, Olivia Crawford and Sarah Toeaina scored eight points apiece, while the Salanoa twins, Leah and Lahni, each contributed seven points.

UH began the season by committing turnovers on its first two possessions and missing its first four shots, as USC built an 11-0 lead 4:15 into the game.

“We missed three lay-ups and dropped a lay-up,” Beeman said. “If that doesn’t happen, that might change the game.”

Driving lay-ups by Crawford and Toeaina, with Toeaina adding a free throw after getting fouled on her drive, narrowed the Wahine’s deficit to 13-7. But Jordan Adams scored five points during a 7-0 spurt that extended USC’s advantage to 20-7 with 1:28 left in the first quarter.

The Women of Troy led 38-18 when Crawford scored five points during another 7-0 surge to draw UH within 38-25 with three minutes before halftime. USC responded with a 12-0 blitz over a span of 4:27 between the end of the second quarter and the beginning of the third to build a 50-25 lead 2:33 into the second half.

“We played even with them in the second quarter until the last 21⁄2 (minutes),” Beeman said. “Then we hit a wall in the third quarter.”

But the Wahine had one final spurt left. Woodfolk scored four points and grabbed three rebounds during a 7-0 spree in the final four minutes. Donahue added a lay-up after making a steal.

“The freshmen woke up at the end of the third quarter,” Crawford said. “They started getting rebounds, coming to the ball and just doing things that are natural, that I know they can do. When they started to play just free, I was like, ‘This is what we need.’ For them to do it in that first game, that’s big.”

Yet USC scored 46 points in the lane, 23 off turnovers and 14 from fast breaks. Kristen Simon finished with game highs of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Adams added 11 points and Minyon Moore scored 10 points.