Even in the standings.
Uneven on the court.
Very uneven.
Hawaii and San Jose State came into Saturday’s Western Athletic Conference game tied for fourth with identical conference and overall records.
That’s where the resemblance ended.
The Spartans dominated in every phase of the game in the first half, then withstood a late charge by the Rainbow Wahine in the second to leave the Stan Sheriff Center with a 67-58 victory. Brittany Johnson, the WAC’s top scorer, finished with 29 points — 10 more than her average — and San Jose State won the battle of the boards 43-35 in handing Hawaii its fourth consecutive loss.
The Spartans (9-14, 4-4) also got 10 points and 12 rebounds from senior forward Myesha Broaden and 10 points from senior guard Sara Plavjanin. The Spartans now claim sole possession of fourth place in the WAC. It was the first win for San Jose State in Honolulu since 2005.
Senior guard Breanna Arbuckle and sophomore forward Vicky Tagalicod had 13 points apiece for the Wahine (8-15, 3-5), who slipped to fifth in the standings. Hawaii never quite overcame an off night by sophomore forward Kamilah Jackson, the team’s leading scorer (13.6 ppg) and rebounder (11.1 rpg). She finished with five points — all on free throws — and two rebounds.
"In the first half, we usually come out strong, but we were flat on (defense)," Tagalicod said. "Once we started scoring, we got into the flow.
"We had good looks, the shots weren’t falling. The second half probably was our best half of the season, but when we got close, we’d have a turnover or didn’t make the stop on defense. What we need to build on for next week’s road trip is to come out even harder than we did in the second half."
Down by as many as 14, Hawaii cut the deficit to single digits several times, including trailing 63-58 with 1:36 to go. But turnovers and missed rebounds plagued the Wahine at the end.
"It was more on us, just mental breakdowns," Arbuckle said. "We knew what we needed to do, and that is play two good halves. Maybe an extra minute and we might have pulled it out."
Hawaii coach Dana Takahara-Dias said the team was still looking for that elusive complete game.
"The second half was very inspired, and we can take away the fact that we played hard, got it down to five," she said. "But it was inexcusable to be in the position to have to play catch-up like we did.
"We were unable to capitalize on opportunities, not getting shots off because of turnovers. All of that compounds itself from the first half that we created."
And it was a bad first half.
Hawaii led 6-2 just 2 minutes in on the strength of 3-pointers by Sydney Haydel and Alissa Campanero.
San Jose State answered with a 10-1 run over the next 5 minutes to take control for good.
The Wahine managed only three more field goals the rest of the half, and none in the final 8:44. If it hadn’t been for the 12-for-17 free-throw shooting, the Wahine would have been staring at a deeper hole than the 38-25 one they found themselves in at halftime.
When Tagalicod opened the second half with a jumper from the top of the key, it was Hawaii’s first field goal in nearly 9 minutes.
Hawaii leaves Monday for games at New Mexico State (5-19, 2-7) on Thursday and Louisiana Tech (13-11, 6-3) on Saturday. The Wahine defeated both that Aggies and Lady Techsters in Honolulu last month.
