The University of Hawaii women’s basketball team has had to start a lot of different lineups this season. The Rainbow Wahine added a new one Thursday as they played for the first time this without their leader, senior guard Lily Wahinekapu.
And after some rockiness in the first half, UH settled down and extended its longest winning streak since the 2014-15 season to 10 games. The ’Bows beat Cal Poly 67-43, with backup guards helping to lead the way.
Wahinekapu’s sister, Jovi Lefotu, scored a game- and career-high 15 points in just 15 minutes off the bench. And transfer Mia ‘Uhia, starting in place of Wahinekapu, scored nine of her 11 points in a perfect shooting first half in which she made three from the field and three from the line, and UH led 25-21 at the break.
Hawaii never trailed after halftime.
“Our second half was impressive,” coach Laura Beeman said after her team shot a season’s best 68% from the floor after intermission. “We just had to figure out we’d be just fine without (Wahinekapu). … Once again we weren’t fully loaded and (players) stepped up and got things done.”
A gathering of 983 saw Hawaii improve to 16-6 overall and 10-2 in the Big West, moving a half-game ahead of UC Irvine, which was idle Thursday. Cal Poly fell to 10-12 and 5-7 with its eighth loss in a row to UH.
“We matched Cal Poly’s intensity in the second half,” Lefotu said.
One of Lefotu’s baskets came on a stylish left-handed driving layup.
“Jovi was tremendous with her efficiency,” said Beeman, who didn’t mind a bit of flash to go with it.
Hawaii outscored Cal Poly in just about every way imaginable: off of turnovers (22-8), in the paint (34-28), fast breaks (13-3) and off the bench (28-12).
Wahinekapu is UH’s leader in scoring, assists and steals. Beeman and Lefotu said they think she might be well enough to play Saturday, when UH hosts UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos are the last team to beat the Wahine, 72-62, at UCSB on Jan. 2.
‘Uhila, a transfer from Alaska, also finished with a team-high three assists and grabbed four rebounds.
“I think it helped that I’m a tall guard,” said ‘Uhila, who at 5-foot-8 had 5 inches on her Cal Poly counterpart, Annika Shah.
UH’s height caused problems for the Mustangs on both ends of the court, as posts Ritorya Tamilo scored 13 points and Brooklyn Rewers 11. Rewers was game-high with nine rebounds, and she had two of UH’s four blocks.
Cal Poly led 12-11 at the end of the first quarter despite Hawaii scoring the first seven points. Shah led the Mustangs with 12 points, but the visitors’ volume-shooting 3-point threat made just one of seven from beyond the arc, and Poly was 1-for-18 as a team.
“Our plan was not to let her get (open) shots,” Beeman said. “I thought we did a good job on her.”
Hawaii allowed 16-for-59 shooting from the field to improve on its opponents’ field-goal shooting of 33.8%, which was fourth in the nation coming into the game.
The Wahine winning streak could be in danger, though, if they don’t improve on their 19 turnovers, and 2-for-10 3-point shooting.
HAWAII 67, CAL POLY 43
MUSTANGS (10-12, 5-7 Big West)
NO. PLAYER MIN FG-A 3PT FT-A O-DREB TREB A PF TO BLK STL PTS
2 Shah 33 5-18 1-7 1-1 2-3 5 1 3 1 0 1 12
4 Lichtie 31 3-7 0-3 3-3 0-4 4 2 1 3 0 1 9
15 Bourland 27 3-9 0-2 2-2 4-1 5 2 4 4 0 0 8
24 Carter 29 1-8 0-3 0-0 3-2 5 0 2 1 0 1 2
31 Hiraki 16 0-3 0-2 0-0 1-1 2 0 5 3 0 0 0
5 Robinson 14 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0
9 Perez 4 1-1 0-0 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2
10 Richards 23 1-7 0-1 4-5 2-2 4 0 3 3 0 2 6
11 Knapp 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
14 Bears 7 2-3 0-0 0-0 1-0 1 0 2 0 0 1 4
22 Goosby 8 0-2 0-0 0-2 0-2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
23 Moleon 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
TEAM 1-1 2
Totals 16-59 1-18 10-15 14-17 31 7 22 19 0 8 43
Percentages 27.1 5.6 66.7
RAINBOW WAHINE (16-6, 10-2 Big West)
NO. PLAYER MIN FG-A 3PT FT-A O-DREB TREB A PF TO BLK STL PTS
1 Imai 33 3-7 1-2 2-4 1-2 3 2 1 1 0 2 9
2 ‘Uhila 29 3-6 0-1 5-5 1-3 4 3 0 7 1 2 11
12 Perez 33 2-6 0-0 2-4 2-4 6 1 3 3 1 0 6
23 McBee 23 0-1 0-1 0-0 0-3 3 0 4 1 0 3 0
24 Tamilo 19 4-8 0-1 5-6 2-5 7 0 0 2 0 0 13
4 Lefotu 16 4-5 1-2 6-6 1-1 2 2 3 1 0 3 15
8 Moors 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 Filemu 6 1-2 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 1 0 1 0 1 2
13 Birdsong 2 0-1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
14 Rewers 20 4-9 0-2 3-4 1-8 9 0 1 0 2 0 11
22 Peacock 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0
TEAM 1-2 3 2
Totals 21-45 2-10 23-29 9-31 40 9 13 19 4 11 67
Percentages 46.7 20.0 79.3
Score By Period
Cal Poly 12 9 8 14 – 43
Hawaii 11 14 17 25 – 67
Technical fouls — none. Officials — Scott Osborne, Alicia Iwakiri, Tim Tamashiro. A —
1,672.
BIG WEST WOMEN
Conference Overall
W L Pct. GB W L
Hawaii 10 2 .833 — 16 6
UC Irvine 9 2 .818 1
⁄2 15 6
UC Davis 8 4 .667 2 14 8
UC San Diego 7 4 .636 21
⁄2 11 12
UCSB 7 5 .583 3 13 9
Long Beach St. 7 5 .583 3 11 10
UC Riverside 6 6 .500 4 10 12
Cal Poly 5 7 .417 5 10 12
CS Fullerton 3 9 .250 7 5 17
CS Northridge 2 10 .167 8 4 17
CSU Bakersfield 1 11 .083 9 1 21
Thursday
Hawaii 67, Cal Poly 43
UC Davis 71, Long Beach State 57
UC San Diego 72, UC Riverside 49
UC Santa Barbara 51, CS Bakersfield 40
Cal State Fullerton 65, CS Northridge 61
Saturday
UC Santa Barbara at Hawaii, 7 p.m.
Cal State Fullerton at UC Davis
UC Riverside at Cal State Bakersfield
Long Beach State at Cal State Northridge
UC Irvine at UC San Diego
