The Hawaii women’s basketball team has a new frontrunner for toughest loss of a difficult season.
UH dropped nonconference games by margins of 44 and 41 points, and another in overtime. But Thursday night’s 52-50 loss at Cal Poly fell under another category of painful.
The eighth-place Rainbow Wahine (9-13, 2-7 Big West), desperate to make up ground in conference play, could not hold on to a late four-point lead in a game in which they committed a whopping 26 turnovers.
“These guys knew this was a game we should have won,” UH coach Laura Beeman said in a postgame phone interview. “So the mood in the locker room definitely echoed that sentiment, that we let this one get away. Can’t do that on the road.”
The second-place Mustangs (12-8, 6-2) stole the ball 14 times and committed only 13 giveaways, eagerly turning the turnover disparity into a 24-3 scoring advantage off of them. They snapped a six-game losing streak to the Wahine going back to 2014-15.
“They had 15 points off of our turnovers in the fourth quarter alone,” Beeman said. “That’s not gonna win ballgames.”
Dynn Leaupepe paced Cal Poly with 26 points on 13-for-26 shooting, while her twin, Lynn, had nine points and 10 rebounds. They combined for 11 steals.
UH got 13 points and seven turnovers from Sarah Toeaina, while Julissa Tago scored 11. Point guard Tia Kanoa, who had an errant 3-point look with a second left, finished with a season-low one assist.
The Wahine went on an 8-1 run bridging the third and fourth quarters for a 39-35 lead. They led for the last time on Kenna Woodfolk’s basket with 1:04 remaining as Lynn Leaupepe had the go-ahead three-point play with 38 seconds left.
The Wahine now look to Saturday’s noon game at UC Santa Barbara (7-13, 4-4) for their first BWC road win.
“We have to bounce back. We have to come off this road trip 1-1,” Beeman said. “We need to make some adjustments and gotta take care of the ball better. Gotta hit free throws.”