San Diego sends Wahine home

SAN DIEGO » A season of unexpected recovery could not end more than a decade of postseason frustration.

Hawaii’s first appearance in a national postseason tournament since 2003 ended Thursday in a 61-49 loss to San Diego in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament at USD’s Jenny Craig Pavilion.

Not since 2001 had the Rainbow Wahine (17-14) won in a national postseason tournament. Nevertheless, UH finished its first winning season in six years — and won the most games since 2005-06, when the Wahine earned 18 victories.

Did head coach Laura Beeman expect such progress in her first season at Manoa?

"I don’t know if I expected it but I wanted it," Beeman said. "I never really stopped to think, ‘Is it something tangible?’

"Of course, the postseason is what you always play for. But I felt like if the girls bought in, then we could put ourselves in a position to do well in the conference."

Sydney Haydel, who led the Wahine with 11 points and six rebounds, can assure Beeman of such support.

"We’ve been able to buy into Coach B’s system," Haydel said. "That was something I couldn’t say we did with our previous coach. I think the fact that we got into the postseason this year is incredible."

Shawna Kuehu came off the bench to add nine points. But Kamilah Martin, the Big West Conference’s third-leading scorer at 15.4 points per game, experienced an exasperating night.

Martin missed 14 of 17 shots to finish with only eight points — one more than her season low — and grabbed just five rebounds.

In the low post, the 6-foot junior faced numerous double teams led by the Toreros’ 6-foot-2 Felicia Wijenberg. Often joining Wijenberg defensively were Katelyn McDaniel and Klara Wischer, both 6 feet 1.

USD (22-9) used its superior height to out-rebound the Wahine 41-27 and out-score them 28-18 in the lane.

The Wahine retaliated by forcing 16 turnovers, eight of them resulting from steals. Martin made a team-high three steals, one fewer than her season best.

"If you came in the past couple of years," Martin said, "you can definitely see an improvement in our defense."

Yet UH shot 31.6 percent, its worst field-goal percentage in nearly three months.

"The biggest thing was that we missed too many lay-ups," Beeman said. "It’s really hard when you get stops and you don’t reward yourself with the wide-open shot."

The Toreros exploited UH’s ineffective offense to take command in the first half. The Wahine scored only two points on free throws during a nine-minute span, and USD built a 28-18 lead with 25.6 seconds left in the first half.

Monica DeAngelis’s 3-point basket with 1.4 seconds remaining narrowed UH’s halftime deficit to seven points, then Ashleigh Karaitiana made a lay-in 12 seconds into the second half to bring the Wahine within five points at 28-23.

But USD’s Amy Kame scored six points during an 8-0 spree that extended the Toreros’ advantage to 36-23 with 17:37 to play. The hosts would lead by as many as 15 points.

Kame amassed 15 of her game-high 19 points in the second half. Malina Hood added 11 points, while Wischer and Maya Hood each contributed nine points and seven rebounds.

USD, which has won 11 of its past 13 games, will play Utah in the second round of the WNIT in Salt Lake City.