With a refined outside attack and a dialed-in defense, Hawaii pushed its way past a Power Five team for the first time in two years.
Texas, a Big 12 team that began the season at No. 22 in the Associated Press poll, went down hard on the final day of the Heineken Rainbow Wahine Showdown, 73-60, on Sunday afternoon.
UH (4-4) came into the tournament shooting 20% from long range. But in the last two days of the tournament, the Rainbow Wahine made 21 combined 3s, including shooting 10-for-19 on Sunday.
“It couldn’t have gotten worse,” coach Laura Beeman quipped.
>> Photo Gallery: Hawaii women’s basketball vs. Texas
Sunday couldn’t have gone much better on that front. Junior forward Amy Atwell sizzled in pouring in 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting, including 6-for-7 on 3-pointers. That tied a program record for 3s in a game, set seven times previously — most recently by Leah Salanoa at UC Irvine on Feb. 23, 2017.
“Coach Alex (assistant Delanian) has gotten into us the last week about footwork into shots, and being shot-ready,” Atwell said. “And we all knew what we were capable of. As Coach B said, it couldn’t have got any worse. So it was only up.”
The outside shooting was essential against the Longhorns’ larger front line. Texas (4-4) nearly doubled up UH in the paint, 36-20, but the Longhorns were just 2-for-8 on 3s.
UH’s last win against a member of the Power Five (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12) came on Dec. 17, 2017, a 65-60 upset at Arizona. They hadn’t converted on the last five opportunities, although Saturday’s 68-59 loss to No. 12 North Carolina State offered hope that they weren’t too far off.
“When we are engaged like that, we can beat a lot of really good teams,” Beeman said.
The Wahine, who entered the fourth quarter down three, won the final period 28-12.
Defensive-minded wing Jadynn Alexander scored a career-high 17 on 6-for-9 shooting (including 3-4 on 3s), Julissa Tago scored 12 in sliding over to the point at times, and freshman point guard Nae Nae Calhoun had the best game of her young career with 11 points, eight assists and two turnovers.
The Wahine trailed by their largest amount, 10 at the start of the second quarter, but held the Longhorns scoreless for the final 4:30 of the period to take a 31-30 lead at intermission.
“I thought we all came together and played really solid team defense,” Alexander said. “Everyone did what they needed to do.”
UH went on a 10-2 run to open the fourth, keyed by back-to-back driving layups by Alexander and Atwell.
Tago dove in for a layup for a six-point lead with four minutes left.
Calhoun spun into a three-point play for a 63-53 lead with 2:20 remaining. At that point, driving lanes were open because Texas had to respect the outside shooting.
“When you have a shooter like Amy and Jadynn to the left and the right of me, it makes it that much easier,” Calhoun said.
Center Charli Collier led the Longhorns with 18 points and seven rebounds.