The opening possession of Hawaii’s season opener at No. 15 Stanford on Wednesday night ended with a Cardinal putback for an easy layup that set the tone for the entire game.
Stanford bullied the Rainbow Wahine inside the paint and was never threatened in an 87-40 win at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif.
Kiki Iriafen, who scored the first bucket, led four Stanford players in double figures with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Nunu Agara had 18 points in 18 minutes off the bench and Brooke Demetre chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds.
Preseason All-American Cameron Brink added nine points, eight rebounds, five assists and two blocks in 17 minutes for Stanford, which outscored Hawaii by double figures in every quarter.
UH was out rebounded 60-18 and shot 22.4 percent (13-for-58) from the field. Stanford had more offensive rebounds (17) than Hawaii had defensive rebounds (14).
“I think the biggest issue that was glaring is that they outrebounded us 60-18,” Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said. “That was one of our areas where we had to control the boards and when you have two probably All-American post players first game out, it was a really tough assignment.”
The loss marked the worst margin of defeat for UH under Beeman, who started her 12th season as coach. The previous worst loss was to Texas A&M, 103-59, in 2017. A 29-point home loss to Stanford last year didn’t keep the Rainbow Wahine from reaching the NCAA Tournament, where they lost by 23 to eventual national champion LSU in the first round in March.
Seven of the 10 players who saw the floor against the Cardinal were on that team last season.
“Obviously we have a lot of work to do but the willingness is there,” Beeman said. “We have a lot of areas where we can grow and we have a team willing to do so.”
Stanford, which won its 25th consecutive home opener, took the lead 19 seconds into the game and never gave it up.
UH’s best scoring run was a 5-0 surge in the second quarter beginning with a 3-pointer by Imani Perez with 7:13 remaining.
That was UH’s final field goal until MeiLani McBee splashed a 3-pointer with 5:02 remaining in the third quarter.
“We blew two assignments that led to two 3s in a row and then a board I think led to another 3 and that’s nine quick points for them and it took the wind out of our sails a little bit,” Beeman said.
Stanford outscored Hawaii 28-3 over the span of 11 minutes spreading between the second and third quarters.
Junior Brooklyn Rewers, a Michigan State transfer, led the Rainbow Wahine with eight points and three rebounds as no UH player reached double figures.
Lily Wahinekapu, the team’s leading scorer from a year ago, was held to six points and one assist on 1-for-11 shooting from the field.
UH’s bench combined to shoot 3-for-19 from the floor.
Hawaii will remain on the road to play at Santa Clara on Saturday before returning for its home opener against San Francisco next Friday.
NO. 15 STANFORD 87, HAWAII 40
RAINBOW WAHINE (0-1)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
Wahinekapu 26 1-11 4-4 2 1 1 6
Perez 24 2-6 0-0 2 0 3 5
Rewers 21 3-7 1-1 3 0 3 8
Phillips 26 2-9 0-0 1 2 3 4
McBee 24 2-6 0-0 1 0 3 6
Imai 14 1-1 1-2 1 3 2 3
Thoms 22 1-5 2-3 0 1 2 4
Berrett 9 0-2 0-2 2 0 1 0
Peacock 17 1-5 0-0 1 0 2 2
Davies 17 0-6 2-2 0 1 1 2
Team 5
TOTALS 200 13-58 10-14 18 8 21 40
CARDINAL (1-0)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
Lepolo 20 0-2 0-0 2 0 2 0 Bosgana 18 4-8 2-2 8 1 2 10
Brink 17 2-9 4-4 8 5 2 8
Jump 23 4-7 0-0 3 3 2 9
Iriafen 24 10-14 3-3 13 1 1 23 Agara 18 5-7 8-9 6 1 1 18 Clardy 15 0-3 0-0 3 0 2 0
Demetre 25 4-5 2-2 8 1 1 12
Papadaki 5 0-2 0-0 3 0 0 0
Green 4 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 0
Harriel 20 0-6 0-0 1 2 3 0
Ogden 12 3-3 0-0 1 0 5 7
Team 2
TOTALS 200 32-66 19-20 60 14 21 87
Hawaii 12 10 8 10 – 40
Stanford 24 22 20 21 – 87
3-point goals — Hawaii 4-17 (McBee 2-4, Rewers 1-1, Perez 1-3, Phillips 0-1, Thoms 0-1, Davies 0-2, Peacock 0-2, Wahinekapu 0-3). Stanford 4-17 (Demetre 2-3, Ogden 1-1, Jump 1-2, Brink 0-1, Lepolo 0-1, Papadaki 0-1, Clardy 0-2, Bosgana 0-3, Harriel 0-3). Steals — Hawaii 4 (Phillips 2, Davies, Peacock). Stanford 7 (Agara, Bosgana, Brink, Demetre, Harriel, Jump, Ogden). Blocked shots — Hawaii 2 (McBee, Peacock). Stanford 6 (Brink 2, Bosgana, Clardy, Harriel, Papadaki). Turnovers — Hawaii 11 (Phillips 3, Berrett 2, Imai 2, Wahinekapu 2, Davies, Perez). Stanford 12 (Demetre 2, Iriafen 2, Lepolo 2, Ogden 2, Agara, Brink, Clardy, Harriel). Technical fouls — none. Officials — Michol Murray, Brian Woods, Sean Martin. A — 2,535.
