Portland breezes past Rainbow Wahine basketball team

Portland jumped ahead early and never trailed in a 70-54 win over the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team today at the Chiles Center in Portland, Ore.

Guard Maisie Burnham hit three 3-pointers in a 22-point performance and forward Alex Fowler scored 11 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Pilots (2-0) past UH for the second straight year.

The Pilots’ pressure helped them overcome UH guard Daejah Phillips’ career-high 25 points on 10-for-14 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 from the free-throw line. The rest of the team went 10-for-39 from the field and the Rainbow Wahine fell to 0-2 on its season-opening road trip to the Pacific Northwest.

UH center Kallin Spiller had seven points and 10 rebounds and freshman forward Imani Perez added seven points off the bench.

Portland, voted second in the West Coast Conference preseason poll, hit its first three shots with Burnham draining a 3-pointer to give the Pilots a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. UH got off to a 2-for-13 start as Portland built a 15-5 lead.

UH closed to 24-22 when Phillips scored in the post about midway through the second quarter, but Portland ended the half on an 8-2 run to take a 32-24 lead into halftime.

Phillips opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer, but UH went cold again and Portland pulled away with a 14-2 surge. The Rainbow Wahine cut the deficit to nine early in the fourth only to see Fowler and Burnham fuel another run and the Pilots maintained control through the buzzer.

The Rainbow Wahine make their home debut on Nov. 18 against Florida Gulf Coast in the Bank of Hawaii Classic at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.