Rainbow Wahine basketball team ekes out win over Pepperdine

The Hawaii women’s basketball team held on Friday night for a split of its two-game trip against West Coast Conference opposition.

Just barely.

UH gave up the final 12 points of the game to Pepperdine, but held on to win a 52-51 nail-biter in Malibu, Calif., to improve to 2-1 on the season.

UH coach Laura Beeman got a double-double from junior center Lauren Rewers (13 points and 11 rebounds), her second of the season, and a game-high 18 points by senior guard Julissa Tago. Forward Amy Atwell added nine points and nine rebounds.

The Rainbow Wahine trailed 22-19 at halftime but surged ahead with a dominant third quarter in which they outscored the Waves 22-10.

The game nearly slipped away after UH led 52-39 on two free throws by Jadynn Alexander with 3:24 remaining, as the Waves (1-2) surged on a 12-0 run.

Sophomore Myrrah Joseph was called for a technical foul with 39 seconds left. The Waves made both shots to cut the deficit to one.

Pepperdine then had four field-goal attempts in the final 22 seconds go awry.

Guard Deezha Battle led the Waves with 10 points. Jayla Ruffus-Milner (eight points) missed two winning attempts in the final two seconds.