UC Riverside sticks it to Hawaii again

For the second time in less than a week, Hawaii struggled on both ends of the floor against UC Riverside.

Consequently, the Highlanders left the Stan Sheriff Center with a Big West women’s basketball victory for a second straight visit.

Forward Rejane Verin, the Big West’s leading scorer, triggered Highlanders runs late in the second and third quarters and finished with a game-high 26 points to lead UCR to a 79-59 win over the host Rainbow Wahine before a Wednesday night crowd of 613.

Highlanders guard Lauren Holt hit three 3-pointers in a 21-point performance and UCR ended UH’s nine-game winning streak in Big West home games — a run that started following a 77-74 loss to UCR last January.

More recently, the Wahine (8-14, 4-6 Big West) shot 24 percent from the field in a 63-45 loss at Riverside a week ago and struggled again for most of the rematch before finishing at 29.8 percent in UH’s third straight loss overall and fourth straight in the series with UCR (13-10, 7-3).

“They definitely do something to us, that’s for sure. They kind of suck the life out of us,” UH coach Laura Beeman said.

“They’re big, they’re long, you’re one-and-done most of the time on shots. They do a great job of switching (on defense) and they play very, very good team basketball on both ends of the floor.”

Verin went 0-for-3 in a scoreless first quarter on Wednesday, then broke loose for 14 points in the second and accounted for all of the Highlanders’ scoring in a 10-3 run that gave UCR a 42-29 lead at halftime.

UH closed to 48-42 when Leah Salanoa hit the second of her four 3-pointers with 4:57 left in the third quarter. But UCR held the Wahine scoreless over the remainder of the period and regained command with Verin scoring six points in a decisive 10-0 outburst.

Verin also grabbed 12 rebounds in her seventh double-double of the season. Her performance impressed UCR coach John Margaritis “especially because Rejane was in bed all day yesterday with a temperature.”

“She was sick. I didn’t even know if she was going to be able to play,” said Margaritis. She needs to get sick more often, I guess.”

Verin and Holt ended the game a combined 19-for-29 from the field, while UH went 17-for-57 as a team. Michelle Curry contributed 14 points on 4-for-5 shooting for UCR, which was without guard Simone DeCoud, the Highlanders’ second leading scorer at 11.7 points per game, due to illness.

“(Verin is) a heck of a player. She can elevate over everyone on our team,” Beeman said. “She’s a very talented, high-IQ player and we don’t have a great matchup for her, not yet.”

Salanoa hit two late 3-pointers to match her career high with four and led UH with 17 points on 5-for-7 shooting. Guard Sarah Toeaina added 12 points and seven rebounds and freshman Julissa Tago also grabbed seven rebounds to go along with 11 points.

The Wahine have two days to regroup before continuing their four-game homestand on Saturday against UC Santa Barbara (11-11, 6-3).

“I would say we really have to dig deep right now,” Toeaina said. “But I think we’re still finding our identity and just have to take it more to heart and know that we’re playing in front of Hawaii and playing for Hawaii.”