The Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament gave Hawaii a second chance to end the season on much better terms.
Relegated to the inaugural tournament for the 32 best teams not to qualify for the NCAAs after the Rainbow Wahine lost in the Big West Tournament semifinals, Hawaii pulled to within two points in the final minute before falling short, 65-60, against California at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif., on Thursday night.
Lily Wahinekapu scored a team-high 15 points and Imani Perez had 11 points and five rebounds and buried a 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining to cut Cal’s lead to 62-60.
Hawaii nearly forced a turnover in the backcourt before settling back into its half-court defense. Cal’s Kemery Martin swished a 3-pointer with 18 seconds remaining as the shot clock wound down to end Hawaii’s season at 20-11 overall.
Hawaii fell to 0-8 in the postseason under coach Laura Beeman. Even in defeat, the coach was proud of the way her team fought after a disappointing loss in the semifinals of the BWC tournament to UC Davis following a 17-3 regular season.
“What I said after the Big West game was we took dents and we wanted to see if we could fly farther,” Beeman said. “I thought this team could have rolled over. They had every reason to show up today and go through the motions and get smacked, and they didn’t.”
Nobody embodied that effort more than Wahinekapu, who shot 6-for-10 from the field after a 1-for-14 performance in the loss to the Aggies that kept UH from earning a shot at a three-peat as BWC tournament champions.
Wahinekapu’s floater in the key as time expired in the first half cut UH’s deficit to 23-22 at the break after Hawaii broke out to an 18-15 lead after the first quarter.
She followed a 3-pointer by Perez with a shot from long range to start the second half to give UH its largest lead at five early in the third quarter.
“My teammates and the coaching staff really helped me get through it,” Wahinekapu said about the days after the UC Davis loss. “They just kept telling me I’m going to grow from that game and I thought I made some adjustments but we fell short.”
Hawaii trailed 60-52 with two minutes remaining in the game when Perez hit the first of two of her 3s on a quick 8-2 to run to make it a two-point game.
Hawaii couldn’t close out on Martin’s dagger from the right wing as Cal made 11 3-pointers total. Freshman guard Lulu Laditan-Twidale scored a game-high 20 points off the bench and shot 4-for-5 from 3-point range.
“When you’re on the road and you’re playing a team that’s supposed to beat you, you’ve got to beat teams because you don’t know which way the whistle is going to go,” Beeman said. “I felt like we fought through a lot of great stuff today, had a lot of people step up, and I think we gave Cal a pretty good punch.”
Hawaii finished the season 0-4 against Pac-12 opponents.
Cal forward Marta Suarez had nine points and eight rebounds but committed seven turnovers.
Hawaii forced 16 giveaways but was outrebounded 41-31.
MeiLani McBee had 10 points and junior guard Daejah Phillips, who suffered a sprained ankle in the loss to the Aggies, had nine points, two rebounds and two steals in 23 minutes.
Hawaii shot 34.5% (19-for-55) from the field.
“This group has never given up. We’ve found a way to win for the most part all season long,” Beeman said. “When teams go on a run, the first thing you hear is, that is their punch and let’s go, we’ve got a bigger one coming. We respond to punches, and I love that about this group.”
Hawaii post Jacque David left the game in the second quarter after falling to the court clutching at her knee.
A McBee 3-pointer pulled Hawaii within one possession at 47-44 early in the fourth quarter. The Bears answered with a free throw and McBee was called for an intentional foul on the rebound, giving Cal two more points on free throws to make it a 50-44 game.
Brooklyn Rewers played 17 minutes off the bench and led UH with eight rebounds and six points. Hawaii is losing only two players to graduation for next season.
“We’ve got big plans next year already,” said Wahinekapu.
“Losing Big West hurts, so we’re coming back harder next year,” McBee added.
CALIFORNIA 65, HAWAII 60
RAINBOW WAHINE (20-11)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
Thoms 29 0-3 0-0 1 0 1 0
Wahinekapu 29 6-10 2-3 3 0 2 15
Perez 23 4-10 0-0 5 1 4 11
McBee 29 3-12 2-4 1 3 1 10
Davies 18 1-2 2-2 2 2 2 5
Imai 17 2-5 0-0 2 2 2 4
Rewers 17 2-4 2-2 8 0 1 6
Phillips 23 1-6 7-7 2 0 0 9
Peacock 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
David 10 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 0
TEAM 7
TOTALS 200 19-55 15-18 31 8 14 60
GOLDEN BEARS (19-14)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
Onyiah 27 2-7 2-6 12 1 3 6
McIntosh 34 2-7 0-0 3 6 4 6
Suarez 27 4-11 0-1 8 2 3 9
Martin 30 3-7 0-0 4 1 2 8
Krimili 25 3-9 2-2 3 3 2 9
Lad.-Twidale 25 6-7 4-5 2 0 2 20
Lane 8 1-2 2-2 3 0 1 4
Mastrov 16 0-4 0-0 1 0 1 0
Langarita 8 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 3
TEAM 5
TOTALS 200 22-56 10-16 41 13 18 65
Hawaii 18 4 12 26 – 60
California 13 10 20 22 – 65
3-point goals — Hawaii 7-19 (Perez 3-8,
McBee 2-7, Davies 1-1, Wahinekapu 1-1,
David 0-1, Thoms 0-1). Cal 11-29 (Laditan-Twidale 4-5, Martin 2-5, McIntosh 2-6,
Langarita 1-2, Suarez 1-3, Krimili 1-6, Mastrov 0-2). Steals — Hawaii 6 (Phillips 2,
Imai, McBee, Perez, Wahinekapu). Cal 5
(McIntosh 2, Martin, Mastrov, Onyiah).
Blocked shots — Hawaii 1 (Perez). Cal 3
(Onyiah 2, Krimili). Turnovers — Hawaii 10
(Phillips 4, Imai 2, Team 2, David, Rewers).
Cal 16 (Suarez 7, McIntosh 3, Krimili 2, Onyiah 2, Martin, Mastrov). Technical fouls —
none. Officials — Lorena Ahumada, Corey
Long, Danielle Johnson. A — 761.
