San Diego overwhelms Hawaii Wahine basketball team in opener

San Diego’s penchant for creating chaos led to a rough opening night for the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team.

The host Toreros forced 27 Rainbow Wahine turnovers, including 17 steals, and raced to an 86-53 season-opening win on Tuesday at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego.

San Diego’s defensive pressure fueled the Toreros’ offense, as they converted 47 points off takeaways to run away from the Wahine.

San Diego ranked second in the nation in forcing turnovers last season with 23.7 per game, and had three in a 9-0 surge to open the game. The Toreros put together a 16-0 run midway through the second quarter on their way to a 44-18 lead at halftime.

“We knew we were going to have some jitters — we’re on their floor, first time traveling. (San Diego is a) veteran, experienced team, so we knew they were going to try to punch us in the mouth early,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “We just didn’t do a good job of rebounding from that.”

In assessing the night, Beeman pointed to the turnovers and defensive lapses on San Diego’s 3-point shooters less than a week after Hawaii Pacific drained 14 from long range in UH’s exhibition win on Nov. 3.

San Diego guard Erica Martinsen went 5-for-6 from 3-point range on Tuesday and led four Toreros in double figures with 18 points off the bench. Martinsen also had four steals to tie teammate Myah Pace for game-high honors. Kiera Oakry hit three from long range and finished with 12 points and three steals.

The Toreros shot 52% from the field with nine 3-pointers, while UH went 2-for-10 from behind the arc in a 36% shooting performance overall.

“We gave up way too many points on turnovers and we lost shooters,” Beeman said. “It was the same thing against HPU, where we knew who the shooters were and yet we did not do what we were supposed to do to keep them from shooting. So we have to get better on both sides of the ball.”

Guard Daejah Phillips was UH’s primary offensive threat and scored a game-high 20 points on 6-for-16 shooting from the field and 8-for-11 from the free-throw line.

“Daejah put her head down and attacked,” Beeman said. “She was able to get downhill and score at the basket.”

Senior forward Amy Atwell, UH’s top returning scorer, went 2-for-8 from the field and had eight points and seven boards as San Diego’s defense worked to deny her the ball.

Forward Kallin Spiller finished with 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field and led the Wahine with eight rebounds in her UH debut.

“We should have gotten her the ball more,” Beeman said. “But their speed and athleticism and size affected our ability to see inside, and our guards just played really fast.”

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