Rainbow Wahine rally falls just short

This one hurt even more than the last for the Hawaii women’s basketball team. And that one was plenty painful.

The Rainbow Wahine got blasted by 22 at UC Riverside on Thursday, but it’s the 70-66 defeat at UC Irvine on Saturday, in which UH nearly completed a rally from 17 points down in the fourth quarter, that will stick with the Wahine as they return home from another 0-2 road trip.

“It’s more agonizing because we should’ve won the game, and too many self-inflicted mistakes again,” coach Laura Beeman said in a postgame phone interview. “We had to get one of these games.”

UH (8-11 overall) dropped to 1-5 in conference play, the program’s worst mark through six games as a Big West member. It dropped to 0-4 on the conference road in getting swept home-and-home by UCI (11-8, 3-2), despite shooting 25-for-27 (92.6 percent) at the foul line.

The Rainbow Wahine handled UCI’s fullcourt ball pressure better than in a seven-point loss to the Anteaters in Honolulu nine days prior. They trailed by just three at halftime, but allowed UCI to go on an 11-0 run coming out of the break. Autumn Bumgarner’s four-point play made it 54-39 late in the third.

“We didn’t come out ready to play in the third period and we had to play catch-up the rest of the game,” Beeman said.

But the Wahine came out with resolve in the fourth, cutting their deficit to three with a minute left on a steal and 3-pointer by Tia Kanoa. UH elicited a missed 3 by Irvine and had the ball in the halfcourt looking for the tie, but Amy Atwell was called for a traveling violation while receiving a pass and Anteaters guard Morgan Green (27 points) sealed it at the line by making one of two.

“We drew up a play and I think Amy’s feet got tangled up with one of the defenders,” said Beeman, who added that wasn’t the reason her team lost. “I know I would want that call if someone was catching it and falling down.”

Unforced turnovers, not against the press, doomed UH. They committed 13 after halftime.

The 5-foot-7 Green scored 58 points in the two games against UH. Beeman called the Michigan State transfer the best guard in the Big West.

“She’s got a runner, a floater, a 3, a stepback,” Beeman said. “She’s a heck of a player. She’s a real big fish in a little pond at our level. We knew she was going to score.”

The Wahine were led by Sarah Toeaina, who had 19 points on a 13-for-14 effort at the line. Atwell contributed 15 points and Kenna Woodfolk had 10 points and 10 rebounds in her fourth double-double of the season.

Toeaina needs 10 more points to become the 21st member of the UH 1,000-point club. She can attain it at home against Cal State Northridge on Thursday.