Playing for just the second time this month, the Hawaii women’s basketball team started slow and never led in an 85-46 loss to No. 2 UCLA on Thursday at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Olivia Davies led Hawaii with 11 points and Daejah Phillips added eight points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals as UH wrapped up the nonconference portion of its season with a 3-6 record.
Three of those games were against Pac-12 teams currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25.
UH began the season with a 47-point loss to No. 9 Stanford and hung tough with No. 23 Washington before losing 58-41 on Nov. 26.
Thursday’s game was just the second time Hawaii played since then, as it ended a 17-day layoff after beating San Jose State 73-47 on Dec. 3.
“I think that it’s been a challenge playing three teams in the Top 25, but I think all of those teams will helpfully get us ready for conference,” Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said. “I thought the first half we were pretty bad. It took us a little bit to adjust to their physicality, their length and their speed.”
Charisma Osborne led five UCLA players in double figures with 17 points and center Lauren Betts added 16 points and seven rebounds.
Betts had eight of her points in a first quarter in which UCLA outscored Hawaii 27-6 and shot 60% (12-for-20) from the field.
MeiLani McBee, who scored all of UH’s points in the first quarter on two 3-pointers, made three in the game to move into sixth place on UH’s career list with 118 made 3s.
UH settled down defensively in a much better second quarter. Phillips’ layup accounted for UH’s first 2-point make with 5:58 remaining in the first half.
Kelsie Imai spun for a layup in the paint to make it 38-13 with 3:11 remaining and McBee drained her third 3-pointer with 1:38 left in the second quarter to break a four-way tie in made 3s with Jade Abele, Kylie Galloway and Janevia Taylor.
After getting outscored by 21 points in the first quarter, UH didn’t lose another quarter by more than eight points.
“I think Stanford to UCLA there has been growth in our post game and rebounding,” Beeman said. “I think that we made adjustments faster today.”
Davies scored all of her points in the fourth quarter for Hawaii, which shot 54.5% (6-for-11) from the field over the final 10 minutes.
Eight players scored for UH, with point guard Lily Wahinekapu chipping in six points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
The Bruins finished their nonconference schedule 11-0 and open their final season of Pac-12 play on Dec. 30 at No. 6 Southern California.
Hawaii begins Big West Conference play at Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 30. It’s just the third game UH has scheduled for the entire month.
“I think the consistency will be very good for us,” Beeman said about getting into conference play. “I think it’s something that helps when you can get into a pattern and get into a schedule, and I think after this next bye it will be nice to get going with two games a week. Definitely looking forward to it.”
Sophomore forward Imani Perez, who leads UH in scoring at nine points a game and had started the first eight games of the season, did not play against the Bruins.
Hawaii’s next home game is Jan. 4 against Cal State Bakersfield.