The Hawaii women’s basketball team dug itself a hole, nearly got out of it then got methodically buried from the free-throw line at the end Sunday against Idaho.
The Rainbow Wahine, who trailed by 16 late in the first half, got within two late, before falling 50-40 to the Vandals in the Bank of Hawaii Classic at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
“Tough one for us tonight,” Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said. “We went from playing really good team basketball on Friday (win over San Francisco) to not so great team basketball tonight. Our energy was really flat in the first half.”
Imani Perez scored 12 points and Daejah Phillips added 11 for the Rainbow Wahine, who finished 15 of 55 from the field.
Hawaii got within 35-33 on a layup by Perez with 4:46 remaining. Idaho then reeled off 10 in a row to put the game away. The Vandals went 8-of-8 from the line during the run.
“This team has been pretty solid from the free-throw line,” Idaho coach Carrie Eighmey said. “We missed a few really late, which would have given us a more comfortable lead. But the early ones helped us. When you’re not making field goals, it’s really important to knock down shots from the free-throw line.”
Idaho finished 14 of 55 from the field, including only three made field goals in the second half.
The Vandals finished 19-for-24 from the line, while the Rainbow Wahine went 6-for-10.
The Rainbow Wahine went without a field goal over the final 6:15 of the first quarter, then over the final 5:06 of the second quarter. Idaho led 30-17 at halftime.
“We came out flat,” Perez said. “We need to work on coming out with better pace, just working the ball around and inside touches.”
Beeman also lamented the lack of touches in the paint.
“Between our three post players, we had 14 shots,” she said. “That’s not OK. We have to get the ball inside.”
The Rainbow Wahine (1-3) outscored the Vandals 12-3 in the third quarter to get within 33-29.
“We’re not a quitting group,” Perez said. “We need to bring energy for all four quarters.’
In the first quarter, the Rainbow Wahine went 2-of-12 from the field and committed five turnovers.
Hawaii made its first two field goal attempts of the second quarter to get within 14-11, but Idaho went on a 7-0 run to take a 21-11 lead with 5:33 remaining.
The Vandals (3-1) went on a 9-0 run to take their largest lead at 30-14 with 1:42 left in the half.
The Rainbow Wahine went 5-of-25 from the field and committed eight turnovers before halftime. Perez scored eight points and Phillips added six for Hawaii.
Lily Wahinekapu, who led the Rainbow Wahine with 12.5 points per game last season, was held scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting in the first half.
Brooklyn Rewers, who entered as the team’s leading scorer this season at 14.3 points per game, also didn’t score before halftime.
Sarah Brans scored nine points before halftime for Idaho, which shot 11-of-28 from the field. Eight Vandals scored in the first half. Brans finished with 12 points and Amalie Langer added 10.
Wahinekapu scored five points during an 8-0 run to start the second half as the Rainbow Wahine got within 30-25 with 5:30 left.
Idaho shot 1-for-17 from the field in the third quarter with its only points coming on Brans’ 3-pointer with 4:46 remaining.
Idaho played its third consecutive game against a Big West opponent. The Vandals beat visiting Cal Poly on Nov. 8 and beat Cal State Fullerton on the first day of the tournament Friday.
In Sunday’s earlier game, Cal State Fullerton beat San Francisco 54-48.
Hawaii’s next game will be Friday against Air Force in the Rainbow Wahine Shootout.
“Right now my concern isn’t Air Force, my concern is us,” Beeman said. “If we don’t start sharing the ball and doing what we’re supposed to do on the offensive end and rebounding and not fouling, it doesn’t matter who we play. We’re going to lose. Those are three areas we have to clean up.”
IDAHO 50, HAWAII 40
VANDALS (3-1)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
Langer 35 2-11 6-6 4 2 0 10
Phillips 31 1-6 5-8 3 1 2 7
Johnson 26 2-8 2-2 12 0 2 6
Butera 25 2-8 2-2 6 0 3 6
Schmitt 30 1-7 2-4 5 1 1 4
Brans 15 4-9 2-2 3 0 3 12
Wallace 27 1-4 0-0 3 1 0 3
Caldwell 10 1-2 0-0 2 0 0 2
Kilty 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
TEAM 6
TOTALS 200 14-55 19-24 0 5 12 50
RAINBOW WAHINE (1-3)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
Perez 31 4-5 3-4 5 1 1 12
Wahinekapu 29 3-14 1-2 4 0 5 7
McBee 26 2-6 0-0 4 0 2 5
Rewers 25 1-8 0-0 9 0 1 2
Thoms 18 0-1 0-0 2 1 4 0
Phillips 33 4-11 1-2 4 1 5 11
Imai 20 1-5 1-2 3 3 2 3
Davies 11 0-3 0-0 2 0 0 0
Peacock 5 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0
Berrett 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
TEAM 4
TOTALS 200 15-55 6-10 38 6 20 40
Key — min: minutes played; fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; r: rebounds; a: assists; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points.
SCORE BY PERIOD
Idaho 14 16 3 17 – 50
Hawaii 7 10 12 11 – 40
3-point goals — Idaho 3-15 (Brans 2-4, Wallace 1-3, Phillips 0-1, Schmitt 0-1, Johnson 0-2, Langer 0-4). Hawaii 4-21 (Phillips 2-5, Perez 1-1, McBee 1-5, Thoms 0-1, Imai 0-1, Rewers 0-2, Davies 0-2, Wahinekapu 0-4). Steals — Idaho 7 (Wallace 2, Langer 2, Johnson, Phillips, Schmitt). Hawaii 3 (Phillips 2, Davies). Blocked shots — Idaho 1 (Butera). Hawaii 7 (Rewers 4, Perez 2, Phillips). Turnovers — Idaho 10 (Langer 2, Brans 2, TEAM 2, Butera, Johnson, Schmitt, Caldwell). Hawaii 15 (Phillips 5, Wahinekapu 3, Rewers 2, Perez 2, McBee, Thoms, Imai). Technical fouls — none. Officials — Pete Arceo, Tyler Trimble, Darren Krzesnik. A — 1,620.
