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Hawaii forward Amy Atwell joined elite company in program history with the most productive game of her Rainbow Wahine basketball career.
Atwell scored 13 of her career-high 33 points in the fourth quarter to power the Rainbow Wahine to a 73-66 win over Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The UH graduate student went 10-for-19 from the field and 10-for-12 from the free-throw line and joined the program’s 1,000-point club when she drained her third 3-pointer of the game with 2:46 left. Atwell also led the Wahine with 10 rebounds in her third double-double of the season.
“It was a long time coming and it was in the back of my mind the last few games, but we still have unfinished business.” Atwell said. “It only took six years to get there, but it feels good to be among very good company in the 1,000-point club.
“It’s always nice doing it at home as well and in such a close game. It became about winning the game and just doing what I needed to win the game.”
UH guard Daejah Phillips went 9-for-11 from the line to add 13 points off the bench and the Wahine (7-7) improved to 3-1 in Big West play by completing a sweep of their two-game series with CSUB (1-10, 0-2).
In all, the Wahine went 25-for-32 from the free-throw line, while CSUB went 10-for-16.
“Bakersfield came out with great adjustments,” Beeman said. “I thought we came out in the third quarter and played very well. We upped our energy, which was definitely needed.”
UH and CSUB scheduled a nonconference game for Thursday to fill a gap in their schedules left when Cal Poly canceled its games last week. The Wahine took control early against a CSUB team coming out of a three-week gap between games in a 69-52 win to open the series.
The regularly scheduled game did count in the conference standings and CSUB led for nearly 18 minutes in the first half of Saturday’s rematch.
Playing with renewed energy, the Roadrunners led 13-12 after one quarter and hit three 3-pointers early in the second on their way to a 27-18 lead at the 4:47 mark.
UH guard Olivia Davies then sparked a 10-0 surge with a mid-range jumper, a steal and an assist to Nnenna Orji and a 3-pointer off an assist from Phillips.
CSUB responded by scoring the next seven points and led 34-28 when Miracle Saxon drained a 3 with 14 seconds left in the half. UH closed the half with a putback by Kallin Spiller just before the buzzer.
The teams traded the lead in a tight third quarter and UH surged ahead with a 5-0 run late in the period, with Atwell scoring inside off a feed from Nae Nae Calhoun — who returned to the rotation after a three-game absence — and Kelsie Imai giving UH a 51-46 edge with a baseline drive.
UH built on the lead from the foul line and led 67-56 when Atwell drained her milestone 3-pointer to become the 23rd UH player to reach 1,000 career points.
“Amy turned it up, no doubt about it. Hit big shots, carried us — that’s what you need from your senior leadership,” Beeman said. “But that doesn’t happen without Liv’s ability to get to the basket and find open shooters, and Daejah’s ability to get to the free-throw line and continue to attack.”
Jayden Eggleston led CSUB with 15 points in the Roadrunners’ 10th straight loss.
UH goes on the road this week, with games at UC Santa Barbara on Thursday and Cal State Northridge on Saturday.
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