Hawaii women’s basketball team denied Big West championship, bound for WNIT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
UC Davis forward Morgan Bertsch blocks a shot by Hawaii forward Myrrah Joseph during the first half.
DARRELL MIHO / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Rainbow Wahine Tia Kanoa steals the ball from UC Davis’ Kourtney Eaton during the championship game.
DARRELL MIHO / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii’s Jadynn Alexander drives to the basket against UC Davis’ Nina Bessolo during the championship game.
DARRELL MIHO / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
The Rainbow Wahine wave to the Hawaii fans after the championship game against the UC Davis Aggies.
A nightmare fourth quarter derailed the NCAA tournament hopes of the Hawaii women’s basketball team at the Honda Center today.
The second-seeded Rainbow Wahine led top-seeded UC Davis for the majority of the Big West tournament championship game, only to fall apart at the end of a 58-50 defeat.
Davis (25-6), which trailed by 17 points in the third quarter, went on a 16-0 run in the fourth to go from down nine to up seven. The Wahine shot 1-for-13 from the field in the final 10-minute period, including no field goals in the final 9:37.
UH (15-16) rode some late-season momentum to win four straight and get to the final, but was denied its seventh all-time NCAA tournament appearance, and second in four years.
>> Rainbow Wahine fall in Big West tournament final
Instead, UH is bound for the WNIT postseason tournament, the school announced soon after the loss. It will be the program’s 10th all-time appearance and first since 2015.
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Davis’ Big West player of the year Morgan Bertsch poured in 24 points on 9-for-23 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the way to the BWC’s automatic NCAA berth.
Senior point guard Tia Kanoa kept up her hot shooting from a semifinal win over UC Riverside on Friday, scoring 10 of her 15 points in the first quarter against the Aggies. Senior forward Leah Salanoa added 14 points, but no other UH player scored more than six.
UH came out on fire and seized a 22-10 lead after a quarter.
After weathering a six-minute scoreless drought in the second quarter, the Wahine recovered and took a 32-18 lead into halftime.
The lead swelled to 39-22 in the third, but that’s when Davis strung some points together. Karley Eaton hit a long 3 and it the margin was 41-34 when Bertsch converted a three-point play late in the third.
It was 42-36 heading into the fourth.
Salanoa hit a 3 to begin the fourth quarter, but Davis went into lockdown mode from there.
Kourtney Eaton’s free throws cut it to three with 5:33 remaining and Bertsch put in two more at the line with 4:43 left. Sophia Song’s 3 off of a UH turnover made it an 11-0 run and 47-45 Davis lead with 4:18 left.
Bertsch hit a jumper and Cierra Hall followed with a basket and it was a 15-0 run and 51-45 lead. Song added one more and it was 16 unanswered.
Kanoa got fouled on a 3 and hit all three free throws to cut it to 52-48 with 28.7 seconds left, but that was as close as it got late.
