ANAHEIM, Calif. >> The Big West Conference’s strongest women’s basketball team provides the last obstacle standing between Hawaii and the NCAA tournament.
But the second-seeded Rainbow Wahine needed to repel several surges from third-seeded UC Riverside before securing a 66-58 win in Friday’s semifinals of the Big West women’s tournament in front of 1,002 at the Honda Center.
Tia Kanoa finished with a career-high 19 points for UH (15-15), which used its fourth successive win to reach Saturday’s championship game against UC Davis. The Aggies reached the final by routing fifth-seeded UC Irvine 82-50.
The top-seeded Aggies (24-6) ended the regular season leading the conference in 12 categories. Center Morgan Bertsch, the Big West’s leading scorer at 23.5 points per game, was named the player of the year and made the all-conference first team for the third successive season.
But UH defeated Davis 65-60 at the Stan Sheriff Center on Jan. 12. Kanoa scored 15 points, her previous career best.
The Aggies represent the latest hurdle in a season that has tested the Wahine’s emotional endurance. Their response earned unusual respect from coach Laura Beeman.
“The resiliency they’ve shown all year — a group of young women who have bought into our program and bought into each other the way they have — has surprised me at my age,” Beeman said. “You don’t come across that often in your career. I have learned lessons from them. I am incredibly proud to coach them and incredibly proud for what they did today.”
What the Wahine did was overcome their tendency to sabotage themselves.
“Today’s game, at times, was indicative of our season,” Beeman said. “Our season has been up and down. We played very well at times and then we turned the ball over, missed shots and couldn’t get stops. All of a sudden, we’d do something really nice, then we’d go back to turning the ball over, missing shots, not getting stops.”
As a result, the Highlanders (17-15) remained in pursuit.
Riverside staged its first major surge, an 8-0 spree, late in the first quarter to move ahead, 12-11. UH retaliated by making five consecutive shots in a span of 2 minutes, 46 seconds to build a 24-14 advantage 1:54 into the second quarter.
After the Highlanders moved within 35-31 with 1:08 before halftime following a 6-0 spurt, Leah Salanoa made a 3-point shot with 12.8 seconds left to give the Wahine a 38-31 halftime lead. Kanoa scored 11 of her points in the first half on 5-for-5 shooting.
Riverside’s defensive focus on the Salanoa twins, Leah and Lahni, and Courtney Middap helped Kanoa.
“With Leah, Lahni and Courtney, we have threats all over the floor,” she said. “They were a little bit more spaced out (on defense), so our posts did a great job running some screens so I was able to get inside. It was just a combination of them being guarded a lot more, and our posts doing a great job inside.”
In the second half, the Highlanders narrowed their deficit to two points four times. But after Riverside closed the margin to 43-41, Leah Salanoa made a 3-point shot and Kanoa banked a driving lay-in to extend the lead to 48-41 with 3:12 left in the third quarter.
When the Highlanders drew within 50-48, Lauren Rewers’ jumper and Leah Salanoa’s 3-pointer increased the margin to 55-48 with 5:30 to play. When Riverside closed to 57-55 on Malou De Kergret’s 3-point shot with 2:55 remaining, Lahni Salanoa made her biggest contribution.
The senior made a driving lay-in, got fouled by Tianna Eaton in the process and converted the ensuing free throw to give the Wahine a 60-55 lead with 1:20 to go.
“That one was huge,” Beeman said. “We have been a team where different people have stepped up all year long.”
The Highlanders got no closer than four points. Middap made four free throws in the final 26.8 seconds to ensure the berth in Saturday’s final.
Kanoa added nine assists and six rebounds, while Leah Salanoa scored 11 points and Rewers grabbed eight rebounds. De Kerget, one of three players from France on Riverside’s squad, led the Highlanders with 20 points.
