Hawaii’s second meeting with UC Santa Barbara this season followed an all too familiar script for the Rainbow Wahine basketball team.
Just as in the Gauchos’ Jan. 21 victory in Santa Barbara, Calif., UCSB forward Drew Edelman and UH guard Sarah Toeaina provided the bulk of the production in Saturday’s Big West rematch at the Stan Sheriff Center.
And, once again, the Gauchos pulled away in the fourth quarter to complete the season sweep of UH with a 67-52 win, sending the Wahine to their fourth straight loss.
Edelman, a 6-foot-4 junior, controlled the paint, scoring a career-high 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field while grabbing seven rebounds. Saturday’s game was the most productive performance for the USC transfer since her 19-point night in the first meeting with UH.
UCSB guard Drea Toler scored 11 of her 12 points in the final 12 minutes. and the Gauchos (12-12, 7-4 Big West) held off UH (8-15, 4-7) after the Wahine cut a 15-point halftime deficit to four late in the third quarter.
“When you have a team that has a seasoned post player and seasoned guards, they can find ways to expose you and they did a good job of exposing us tonight in some really key positions,” UH coach Laura Beeman said.
UH’s four-game skid matches its longest of the season. The Wahine dropped consecutive Big West home games for the first time since rejoining the conference in 2012.
Toeaina, who scored 22 points against UCSB last month, led UH with 19 points on 8-for-15 shooting. Forward Lahni Salanoa finished with eight points and five rebounds and freshman Julissa Tago had five points, nine rebounds and three assists while filling in at point guard for much of the game.
Coming off a 20-point loss to UC Riverside on Wednesday, Beeman said “there was good effort. I don’t think it was collective through the full 40 minutes, but it was definitely better than it was on Wednesday.”
UCSB guard Sarah Porter hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter to help the Gauchos take a 20-12 lead. UH went the final 7:50 of the first half without a field goal and UCSB took a 36-21 lead into the break.
The Gauchos started the third quarter 1-for-10 from the field and Toeaina scored eight points in a 16-5 UH run, cutting the deficit to 41-37 with a baseline jumper with two minutes left in the period.
“Every time we huddled up … I tried to remind (the Wahine) to keep the pressure on them,” Toeaina said. “As a guard we don’t like having to guard a dribble drive every time we’re on defense. I told them just to tire them down, try to get to the free throw line and make the easier shots.”
But Toler answered with driving bucket while drawing a foul and guard Onome Jemerigbe (10 points) also scored on a drive. After Toeaina hit two free throws, Aliceah Hernandez drained a 3 from the right side to stretch the Gauchos’ lead to 49-39 going into the fourth quarter.
UCSB led by double digits throughout the final period with Toler and Edelman combining for 14 of the Gauchos’ 18 points.
“I thought (Edelman) did a good job trying to get deep, and then some of the quick hits we run got her some screening action and got her some stuff over the top,” UCSB coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
