Two days after rallying from a 16-point deficit, Hawaii played with a lead throughout Saturday’s 60-54 win at Cal State Fullerton to complete a sweep of its Big West women’s basketball road trip.
The Rainbow Wahine led for more than 35 minutes and trailed for just 18 seconds in their third straight win overall and sixth straight in the series with the Titans.
UH rolled the momentum of Thursday’s 61-58 win at UC San Diego, in which the Wahine battled back from a 35-19 deficit, into a hot start on Saturday at Titan Gym in Fullerton, Calif.
After Cal State Fullerton charged back to take a 21-20 lead in the second quarter, UH answered with an 11-1 run and held off the Titans the rest of the way to sweep its second road trip of the Big West season and match its longest winning streak of the season.
“Winning on the road is hard and nobody knows that like Hawaii athletic teams,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “So for these kids to continue to grind, continue to find somebody else to lead … it’s a huge team effort and as long as we keep doing that we’re going to continue to have some success.”
UH guard Daejah Phillips scored seven of her game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter and guard Lily Wahinekapu added 10 points in her return to Titan Gym after transferring from Fullerton to UH following her freshman year.
Forward Nnenna Orji contributed six of her 10 points in UH’s second-quarter run and her production helped UH build a 30-2 advantage in bench points. Guard Meilani McBee had two of UH’s five 3-pointers and dished out five assists.
UH (11-12, 9-5 Big West) will have a week to recharge for a meeting with Big West leader Long Beach State (17-7, 12-2) Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The Beach defeated CSU Bakersfield 66-55 on Saturday to extend their winning streak to 10, which includes a 62-48 win over UH on Jan. 14 in LBSU’s Gold Mine.
“We’re going to take couple days off and we’ve got a really good Long Beach team coming in Saturday,” Beeman said. “Just hope we can put some people in the stands and give us a push.”
Following Thursday’s breakthrough win over UC San Diego, UH jumped out to an 8-0 lead Saturday with Kelsie Imai and McKenna Haire hitting 3-pointers. Cal State Fullerton answered to catch the Wahine at 11-11 and took a 21-20 lead in the second quarter. But Kallin Spiller scored in the post and after Fullerton tied it at 22-22, Orji scored twice inside to spark a 9-0 UH run capped by a McBee 3-pointer.
UH led 33-26 at halftime and McBee’s 3-pointer early in the third quarter gave UH its largest lead of the game. Fullerton again rallied with a 9-0 surge to close to 36-35, but Wahinekapu scored on a drive while drawing a foul and completed the three-point play. The sophomore later drained a 3-pointer that gave UH a 47-40 lead.
“In the past we folded on those (runs), we had not been able to take that punch and withstand it,” Beeman said. “So that fact that we could, and grow the lead is really nice to see.”
Phillips went on the attack in the fourth quarter, going 3-for-5 from the field, and UH led by at least five for the final 10 minutes.
“She’s a hard matchup for them, and we were able to run some sets that got her downhill,” Beeman said. “Daejah did a great job of turning those into downhill drives to the basket and being very physical on finishes. I thought defensively she had her best game in a very long time.”
Fujika Nimmo led Cal State Fullerton (10-13, 5-9) with 15 points and Aixchel Hernandez finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The Titans lost their third straight after winning three in a row.
