A matchup that was billed as a battle between two tightly bunched teams atop the Big West standings instead underscored the gap between Nos. 1 and 2.
League leader UC Davis turned back challenger Hawaii with a fourth-quarter wallop and emerged with a 65-48 road win Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 1,084 — a season high not including doubleheader games with the UH men — saw a competitive game for three quarters, but the Aggies (15-11, 10-3 Big West) won the final period 16-5 to snap the six-game winning streak of the Wahine (14-11, 8-4) and earn a home-and-home season sweep.
Coach Laura Beeman said repeatedly in the postgame press conference her team was “out of sync.” UH had a nine-day layoff from game action since beating Cal State Northridge.
“We’ll get back to the drawing board,” Beeman said. “We’re disappointed because we had such a great crowd. We wanted to play better in front of them. And we wanted the opportunity to sit in first place. But we have four games left (before the Big West tournament). If we thought we were going to win the conference championship tonight, we were sadly mistaken regardless of the outcome of tonight’s game.”
The three-time defending Big West regular-season champions held the Wahine to 24.6% shooting from the field — one of their worst outings of the year — and they were 2-for-17 (11.8%) in the decisive fourth. UH’s top two scorers for the season, Julissa Tago and Amy Atwell, were held to four points each on a combined 3-for-18 shooting.
“We were just unable to get downhill, read where the collapse was coming from and find shooters,” Beeman said.
Center Lauren Rewers was one of the few Wahine players to take and make open perimeter shots. The junior tied her career high of 17 points.
“I think the biggest thing is we have to look at this as a learning experience and grow from it, because it’s going to make us better,” Rewers said. “It’s going to prepare us for the tournament.”
The Wahine came out fired up and led 10-2, but UCD pounced on turnovers in the second quarter to go on a 13-0 run and take a 26-14 lead.
The Wahine pulled to within 33-26 at halftime and Rewers rallied the Wahine in the third. Guard Courtney Middap missed a corner 3, grabbed her own rebound and put it in, plus the foul, to tie it at 42.
Tago had a pull-up 3 rim out at the third-quarter buzzer and the Aggies held a 49-43 lead.
After a corner 3 by UH’s Savannah Reier to open the fourth quarter, the visitors closed the game on a 16-2 run.
Beeman chalked up the letdown to breakdowns in defensive schemes and too much “east and west” dribbling.
“And we did not have the magic touch from 3-point land (6-for-29),” she said. “We were right there in it and we only scored five points in the fourth, which is something we haven’t done in a long time.”
Davis was coming off a 71-61 home loss to Cal State Fullerton on Thursday that snapped the Aggies’ 28-game home conference winning streak.
“For us, coming into this environment where it was a big game, and a lot of emotion, to know that we’re ready to perform, we can build off of that,” Davis coach Jennifer Gross said. “And we know from here on out, we don’t have to sit here and say we hope that something else happens to somebody else. It’s in our control. Having said that, our league is so competitive and we’ve been in battles every single night.”
The Davis backcourt of Katie Toole and Evanne Turner combined for 27 points and five 3-pointers. Forward Cierra Hall added 11 for the Aggies.
