If you look at the stats sheet the game was won and lost on 3-point shooting.

If you had to pick one play as a turning point, it was when Amy Atwell left the court for a few minutes after an apparent injury.

However, if you talked to Hawaii women’s basketball coach Laura Beeman after UH’s 74-57 loss to Texas Southern at the Stan Sheriff Center on Sunday, it’s about something even more fundamental than putting the ball in the basket or the unavailability of a key player for a key stretch.

“You have to have effort. You have to have effort for 40 minutes,” said Beeman, after Hawaii fell to 3-2 and Texas Southern, coached by Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, improved to 2-3. “It’s not a game where you can pick and choose when you’re going to play hard.”

Hawaii led 32-28 at halftime, with Atwell dominating down low, scoring 11 of her team-high 15 points. She scored four more early in the third, but then exited for a few minutes with an apparent leg injury. When Atwell returned with 1:36 left in the period, the visitors had gone on a 9-1 run and led 48-39.

Atwell played 2:41 of the fourth quarter and did not score again as the Tigers pulled away.

“If our team is going to be based on one player, we’re going to have a very long season,” Beeman said.

Julissa Tago and Jadynn Alexander each scored 10 for UH.

Atwell, a 6-foot junior forward, came into Sunday’s game averaging 9.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Beeman said Atwell is “day-to-day.”

“I was definitely fine. I wouldn’t have come back in if I didn’t think I was good to go,” Atwell said. She agreed with Beeman about inconsistent team effort. “We weren’t talking as much (in the second half),” she said.

The Wahine lacked intensity on defense, Beeman said.

Texas Southern senior Richelle Velez was 0-for-2 on 3-point shots and scoreless in the first quarter. But she finished with a game-high 25 points, making seven of 13 from long range. Niya Mitchell was a consistent force on both ends, using her quickness to produce 24 points for Texas Southern.

Velez had made just three of 23 3-pointers coming into the game, but the Wahine had warned in the scouting report to keep an eye on her, Beeman said.

“We couldn’t lose sight of her and we did … ,” Beeman said. “She’s a good shooter, but she’s not 25-points good, no offense. But we left her open.”

While Texas Southern was going 10-for-28 from beyond the arc as a team, Hawaii was misfiring at 2-for-15.

UH took care of the ball early, with just two turnovers in the first seven minutes while building a 15-9 lead. But the Tigers turned up the heat, and ended up scoring 21 points off 22 Hawaii turnovers.

“They came in different ways. We had to just play basketball at times,” Beeman said. “We knew they would play frantic and we thought we could win frantic for a while.”

UH’s next game is 5 p.m. Friday against North Texas at the Sheriff Center.