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A cold start doused Hawaii’s hopes of slowing Boise State’s early-season surge and the Rainbow Wahine basketball team fell to the Broncos 61-49 in a nonconference game Tuesday in Boise, Idaho.
UH fell to 3-8 after dropping both ends of a two-game road trip on which the Rainbow Wahine shot a combined 27 percent from the field in losses to Nevada and Boise State (10-1).
After going 20-for-87 in Sunday’s triple-overtime loss at Nevada, the Rainbow Wahine went 7-for-26 in the first half at Boise State and finished the game at 33 percent.
Freshman Julissa Tago connected on UH’s first 3-point attempt of the game, but the Wahine went 0-for-11 from long range the rest of the way and finished 14-for-25 from the free-throw line.
“We did not shoot the ball well again. The biggest frustration was we missed 11 free throws,” UH coach Laura Beeman said in a phone interview.
“I thought the girls did a pretty good job of getting focused after the triple-overtime loss. We still did not execute and play the style and the type of basketball that we’re capable of.”
Sarah Toeaina led the Rainbow Wahine with 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Guards Olivia Crawford and Briana Harris both finished with nine points and freshman forward Keleah-Aiko Koloi contributed eight points and eight rebounds. Freshman center Adrienne Darden had seven points, four rebounds and a blocked shot in her first career start.
Forward Shalen Shaw led Boise State with 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting, including three 3-pointers. Her hot start helped Boise State to a 30-18 halftime lead.
Most of the UH travel party will disperse today to spend Christmas with their families. The team returns to the Stan Sheriff Center on Dec. 29 to face Grand Canyon in their final nonconference game of the season.
“(The break) is needed right now,” Beeman said. “They need to be with their families and take a deep breath and have a chance to reflect and hopefully come back with attitudes to really make a commitment to making some change.”
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