Wahine clip Cougars

Hawaii found a way to pull away from the ones that got away.

The Rainbow Wahine got a stellar home debut from freshman point guard Briana Harris and a vintage low-post effort from Kamilah Jackson in a 77-66 defeat of Washington State on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center, kicking off the three-day round-robin Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic.

A split-allegiance crowd of 1,124 was on hand for the homecoming of Big Island natives Lia Galdeira and Dawnyelle Awa, the stars of Konawaena High’s run of three state championships in four years from 2009 to 2012. Galdeira overcame a slow start to finish with a season-high 29 points on 11-for-25 shooting, four off her career high. Awa added five points and two steals.

About a third of the crowd wore Cougars maroon and black.

"I mean, it was fun having family here and everything," said Galdeira, a three-time state player of the year. "But we had a slow start, and Hawaii came out to play, so nothing else to be said."

UH took big leads — including 15 points in the first half — and gave them up nearly as quickly with Galdeira’s relentless attacks, but the Wahine had the superior late-game execution after the Cougars rallied to within four at 69-65 with 1:50 to play.

Senior Shawna Kuehu, quiet on a night of former Hawaii prep stars, drove across the lane for her first basket with 1:30 remaining. She and Harris followed with four straight free throws to put away the game.

"I don’t ever want to talk about (Galdeira) again," UH coach Laura Beeman said with a laugh. "She’s a heck of a player, she’s fun to watch. We knew she was going to get her points, but we wanted her to work very, very hard for them."

UH (2-1) continues tournament play against Ole Miss (1-2) of the Southeastern Conference today at 2:30 p.m.

Harris made quite the first impression on Wahine fans seeing her in person for the first time. The Inglewood, Calif., native came off the bench to lift UH with 21 points and five assists against just one turnover. She shot 6-for-13 from the field and 7-for-10 at the foul line.

"It felt great. It felt like I was in high school again," Harris said. "At high school I’ve always brought energy. To bring it to college felt good."

Jackson had 21 points and 15 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Sophomore Destiny King added career highs of 13 points and seven boards with five assists, while Ashleigh Karaitiana fouled out with 10 points.

It was an impressive effort for the Wahine considering they were routed by 40 points at another Pac-12 school, Arizona State, to open the season.

"To come back from that ASU debacle and have the energy and the effort we did tonight, I’m really proud of them," Beeman said.

The Wahine jumped out to a 27-12 lead, their largest of the game, but the Cougars worked their way back to within six at halftime behind Galdeira and kept pushing with a 21-5 run to bridge the halves.

Washington State took a lead at 33-32 early in the second half. The teams swapped the lead a few times before a King three-point play kicked off a 13-0 UH run that put the Wahine ahead for good.

The Cougars shot 2-for-18 (11.1 percent) on 3-pointers and 35.9 percent overall, inhibiting their comeback bid.

West Virginia routed Ole Miss 86-56 in the tournament opener earlier Friday. Taylor Palmer came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points for the Mountaineers.