Portland’s balance overcame a career-best performance by Hawaii senior Amy Atwell as the Pilots pulled out a 91-77 win over the Rainbow Wahine basketball team in the opening game of the Bank of Hawaii Classic on Friday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
After struggling from the field in last week’s season-opening road trip, Atwell scored 30 points on 12-for-22 shooting, including four 3-pointers, in UH’s home opener.
Portland (3-1) countered with a multi-pronged attack led by Alex Fowler’s 20 points and nine rebounds, as all five Pilots starters scored in double figures.
Portland center Lucy Cochrane finished with 17 points on 8-for-11 shooting, with seven rebounds and three assists. Guard Haylee Andrews added 16 points and 11 assists.
Coming off lopsided losses to San Diego and Southern Cal to open the season, the Rainbow Wahine (0-3) went into the final period on Friday tied with the Pilots at 60-60. Portland then opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run and shot 9-for-12 from the field in the period to pull away.
“I thought we made really good strides tonight as far as just effort and intensity and playing a full 40 minutes,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “We had our lulls where they really capitalized on leak-outs, some missed opportunities where they got offensive boards. Obviously the first quarter was pretty shaky for us with turnovers, but this was much improved from our road trip, where we did not play with the same intensity and urgency.
“We have some really good pieces and good execution we can now build on. Portland is a very good team. They play very hard, they’re very smart, return a lot of experience. They made us better tonight.”
The Rainbow Wahine close the tournament against Portland State in a game set for 5 p.m. on Sunday.
The Wahine played without guard Daejah Phillips, who averaged 12 points last week, and McKenna Haire made her first start of the season. Guard Olivia Davies complemented Atwell’s production with 13 points with two 3-pointers. Haire added seven points and eight rebounds and center Kallin Spiller finished with eight points.
Atwell, who went 4-for-23 from the field in last week’s season-opening road trip, made her first four attempts on Friday and scored UH’s first nine points.
“Seeing your first few shots fall does wonders for your confidence,” Atwell said. “Definitely kind of a confidence shift. This whole week I was in the gym (with assistant coach Alex Delanian) working on shot-ready footwork.”
Portland forced 10 UH turnovers in the first quarter and took a 28-18 lead early in the second when Emme Shearer drained a 3-pointer.
The Wahine then went on an 18-6 surge and pulled ahead at 36-34. UH guard Kelsie Imai drained a high-arcing 3-pointer with 23 seconds left in the half, but Rose Pflug answered for Portland just before the buzzer to give the Pilots a 43-41 lead at the break.
Portland opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run starting with a Maddie Muhlheim 3-pointer. The Pilots opened up a double-digit lead when Muhlheim drained another from the left wing. A steal led to an Andrews layup for a 78-66 lead and the Pilots held off the Wahine the rest of the way.
