UC San Diego had an open look to win the game at the end of regulation and another to tie it at the end of overtime.
Both shots rolled off the rim and the Hawaii women’s basketball team survived to win its eighth straight game on Thursday night — 65-63 over the Tritons in overtime at LionTree Arena in La Jolla, Calif.
Senior guard Lily Wahinekapu scored a game-high 19 points and converted one of two free throws with eight seconds remaining in the OT period after Jovi Lefotu’s back-down layup with 58 seconds to go put UH ahead 64-63.
The Tritons dribbled down the court and had the ball poked out of bounds with less than two seconds remaining. UCSD had one final inbounds play and Gracie Gallegos got wide open on the opposite block for a layup, but she decided to take a dribble and put up a contested shot that didn’t go in as the buzzer sounded.
“It was one of the ugliest, most difficult games across the board and we found a way to win, which is what absolutely matters,” Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said.
Hawaii (14-6, 8-2 Big West) remained in a first-place tie with UC Irvine, which knocked off Long Beach State to give Hawaii the lead via a tiebreaker earned by Saturday’s win over the Anteaters.
UC San Diego, which would have earned a share of first place with a win, fell to 10-12 overall and 6-4 in the Big West, two back of the league leaders.
Wahinekapu scored five points in the final 1:08 of regulation to help get the game into overtime and added eight rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Imani Perez tied a career high with three made 3-pointers and added 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Kelsie Imai chipped in 10 points, four assists and three rebounds and Lefotu had eight points, three rebounds and two steals.
Hawaii won despite 22 turnovers.
“Defensively we have been able to hang our hat on execution all season long and tonight we were off on the defensive side of the ball,” Beeman said. “We struggled with their personnel and containing their guards getting to the basket.”
UCSD guard Sumayah Sugapong, the reigning Big West Player of the Week for the third time this season, led four Tritons in double figures with 17 points on 8-for-21 shooting with five assists and seven rebounds.
UCSD led 63-62 in overtime when she was called for an offensive foul drawn by Imai for her fifth of the game with 1:50 remaining.
Imai, who substituted into the game less than two minutes in, played a season-high 32 minutes and scored in double figures for the first time. She had missed six games in a row with injury before returning two weeks ago.
“Kelsie was amazing tonight. She played one of the best games she has played all season long,” Beeman said. “We knew it was coming. She just needed a little bit of game time. She showed up at the right time for sure.”
Hawaii committed three turnovers in the first 95 seconds and fell into a quick 6-0 hole before scoring 17 of the next 22 points.
UH chased down five offensive rebounds and led 17-11 on a Jade Peacock 3-pointer before Junae Mahan’s turnaround jumper made it a four-point UH lead after the first quarter.
Hawaii came into the game second in the country in field-goal percentage allowed. The Tritons shot 50% (6-for-12) from the field in the opening quarter and forced five turnovers, but they were beaten on the glass 11-5.
That Tritons’ shooting percentage from the field dropped to 37.9% at halftime as UH extended its lead to six points on a Perez 3-pointer late in the shot clock with four seconds before halftime.
Perez, whose first 3-pointer in the second quarter gave UH its largest lead in the first half at 10, sunk her second from the left wing after Wahinekapu dribbled the ball out against tough man-to-man defense and found the open shooter with a second left on the shot clock.
Perez and Wahinekapu had eight points and three rebounds each to lead UH to a 32-26 lead at intermission.
“I thought we did a good job on the boards in the first half, but not as good in the second half,” Beeman said.
Perez tied her career high with her third 3-pointer midway through the third quarter to push the lead to eight, but a 10-0 Tritons run gave UCSD its first lead since the first quarter on a pull-up jumper by Gallegos to make it 46-44 Tritons.
Lefotu followed with a left-handed layup to tie things back up entering the final 10 minutes.
Sabrina Ma and Imai traded 3-pointers to start the fourth quarter. Sugapong, who picked up her fourth foul earlier in the fourth quarter, came back onto the floor with 6:45 remaining.
Ma hit a 3-pointer out of a timeout on an inbounds play with 17 seconds to go in regulation to put UCSD ahead 59-58. Wahinekapu was fouled with 10 seconds left and made one of two free throws to tie it.
Sugapong drove to the basketball and had an open layup as time expired but couldn’t convert, sending the game to an extra period.
UH had lost its only previous overtime game this season against Long Beach State.
The Rainbow Wahine will finish this week’s road trip at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at noon.
BIG WEST WOMEN
Conference Overall
W L Pct. GB W L
UC Irvine 8 2 .800 — 14 6
Hawaii 8 2 .800 — 14 6
Long Beach St. 7 3 .700 1 11 8
UC Davis 7 3 .700 1 13 7
UC San Diego 6 4 .600 2 10 12
UC Riverside 5 5 .500 3 9 11
Cal Poly 5 5 .500 3 10 10
UCSB 5 5 .500 3 11 9
CS Fullerton 2 8 .200 6 4 16
CS Northridge 1 9 .100 7 3 16
CSU Bakersfield 1 9 .100 7 1 19
Thursday
Hawaii 65, UC San Diego 63, OT
UC Santa Barbara 68, CS Northridge 53
UC Davis 52, UC Riverside 41
Cal Poly 51, Cal State Bakersfield 42
UC Irvine 61, Long Beach State 47
Saturday
Hawaii at Cal State Fullerton, noon
UC Santa Barbara at Long Beach State
UC Irvine at UC Davis
UC Riverside at Cal Poly
CS Northridge at Cal State Bakersfield
HAWAII 65, UC SAN DIEGO 63, OT
RAINBOW WAHINE (14-6, 8-2 Big West)
NO. PLAYER MIN FG-A 3PT FT-A O-DREB TREB PF A TO BLK STL PTS
03 Wahinekapu 37 7-9 3-5 2-4 5-3 8 0 3 2 0 1 19
12 Perez 33 4-6 3-5 0-0 1-3 4 3 3 1 0 2 11
24 Tamilo 15 3-4 0-0 0-2 1-2 3 1 0 3 0 0 6
23 McBee 41 1-10 1-9 0-0 0-4 4 1 1 1 0 0 3
02 ‘Uhila 12 1-1 1-1 0-0 0-3 3 0 0 3 0 0 3
01 Imai 33 3-7 1-3 3-4 0-3 3 3 4 5 0 1 10
04 Lefotu 21 3-7 0-1 2-2 0-3 3 2 1 2 0 2 8
22 Peacock 13 2-6 1-3 0-0 0-1 1 2 1 1 0 0 5
14 Rewers 18 0-4 0-2 0-0 1-5 6 1 2 1 0 0 0
08 Moors 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
TEAM 5
Totals 225 24-54 10-29 7-12 9-31 40 13 15 22 0 6 65
Percentages 44.4 34.5 58.3
TRITONS (10-12, 6-4 Big West)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
NO. PLAYER MIN FG-A 3PT FT-A O-DREB TREB PF A TO BLK STL PTS
03 Sugapong 39 8-21 0-4 1-3 3-4 7 5 5 6 1 2 17
15 Ma 35 5-8 4-5 2-2 3-1 4 4 2 3 0 3 16
22 Gallegos 41 6-11 1-3 1-2 0-6 6 1 2 1 1 0 14
32 Montgomery 44 0-9 0-5 2-2 0-4 4 1 2 0 0 3 2
24 Spriggs 12 1-1 0-0 0-0 1-0 1 0 2 2 0 0 2
11 Condron 33 5-11 0-2 0-0 4-4 8 2 0 1 0 0 10
25 Mahan 7 1-3 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
12 Smith 10 0-2 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0
23 Blithikioti 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
TEAM 3
Totals 225 26-67 5-20 6-9 12-23 35 14 13 15 2 9 63
Percentages 38.8 25.0 66.7
Score By Period
Hawaii 17 15 14 13 6 – 65
UC San Diego 13 13 20 13 4 – 63
Technical fouls — none. Officials — Jen Calhoon, Corey Long, Alecia Murray. A — 435.
