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San Diego runs away from University of Hawaii women’s basketball team in season opener

San Diego broke away early and raced to an 86-53 season-opening win over the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team today at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego.

The Toreros forced 27 Rainbow Wahine turnovers, including 17 steals, and scored 47 points off of takeaways in the victory.

UH guard Daejah Phillips opened the season with a game-high 20 points. Forward Kallin Spiller finished with 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field with eight rebounds in her UH debut. Senior forward Amy Atwell went 2-for-8 from the field and had eight points and seven boards as the Toreros denied her the ball throughout the game.

San Diego guard Erica Martinsen went 5-for-6 from 3-point range and led four Toreros in double figures with 18 points. Kiera Oakry hit three from long range and finished with 12 points. The Toreros shot 52% from the field with nine 3-pointers, while UH went 2-for-10 from behind the arc while shooting 36% from the field overall.

San Diego opened the scoring with a Sydney Hunter layup 52 seconds into the game and set the tone early in forcing three UH turnovers in a 9-0 run.

The Toreros led 19-9 after the first quarter and didn’t relent in the second. Already up by 11, San Diego went on a 16-0 run midway through the period and stretched the lead to 42-15 with 1:56 left in the half.

The action evened out a bit after halftime with UH staying with San Diego in a 15-14 third quarter. Meilani McBee hit UH’s first 3-pointer of the season with 4:56 left in the fourth quarter to make it 72-44. Nae Nae Calhoun hit another 3-pointer with 2:43 left, which would be UH’s final bucket as San Diego closed with a 9-0 run.

The Wahine continue their season-opening road trip with a game at Southern Cal on Thursday in Los Angeles.

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