The Hawaii women’s basketball team found a way to get the ball inside and win big.
Forward Imani Perez led four players in double figures with 19 points and backup post player Brooklyn Rewers added 13 points on 6-for-14 shooting off the bench with four rebounds for Hawaii (10-6, 4-2 Big West), which won its fourth straight game, defeating Cal State Northridge 75-47 on Thursday night at Premier America Credit Union Arena in Northridge, Calif.
Center Ritorya Tamilo added 11 points and two blocks for UH, which had three of its four leading scorers measure at 6-foot-4 or taller.
Starting point guard Lily Wahinekapu was the last player in double figures with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists for UH, which can match a season-high five-game winning streak with a win over Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday at noon.
“Post players did a better job of ducking in and timing their ability of getting open better,” Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said in a phone interview after the game. “Our bigs did a great job of being patient and recognizing doubles that came up and I just think at times the ball movement was good. They did what we asked them to do. The (guards) got the ball inside.”
Guard Mia ‘Uhila had eight points, eight rebounds and seven assists in 25 minutes off of the bench.
Erika Aspajo had 14 points to lead the Matadors (3-13, 1-6), who shot 27.6% (16-for-58) from the field.
Hawaii is 10-2 when holding opponents under 40% shooting.
“Defensively I think we had a little bit of slippage of defending the 3-point line, but overall I thought they did a good job,” Beeman said.
Hawaii came out firing from 3-point range, hitting five of 10 shots beyond the arc to take a 19-14 lead after the first quarter.
Five different Rainbow Wahine connected from long range, including the 6-foot-5 Tamilo, who connected on her fourth 3-point attempt of the season to put UH ahead 11-4.
Wahinekapu made her only shot attempt from 3 and added four rebounds and two assists in the first six minutes to help UH get out to a 12-point lead in the first 10 minutes.
Wahinekapu drilled her second 3-pointer to start the second quarter and push UH’s lead to eight at 22-14.
The Rainbow Wahine poured it on the second quarter, outscoring the Matadors by 16 points to take a 45-24 lead at the half.
Hawaii shot 55.6% (10-for-18) from the field and dominated in the paint, outscoring CSUN 10-4 to blow the game open.
Perez shot 5-for-7 from the field for 15 points and Wahinekapu added 13 points for Hawaii, which also saw senior guard Kelsie Imai inserted into the game for the first time since going down with an injury against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
“We didn’t do a good job of contesting their shots. We didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball,” CSUN coach Angie Ned said in a postgame interview on ESPN+. “It’s just a matter of us contesting them. We did not contest their 3-point shot attempts. I didn’t think we had a great flow. For the course of the game it was pretty sporadic.”
Perez and ‘Uhila led UH in minutes played at just under 25 minutes.
“That’s exactly what the plan was tonight,” Beeman said. “(Wahinekapu) ended with (18) minutes and so if we can limit her minutes, it’s OK if we lose some of the chemistry with other players. Our goal was not to get anybody over 25 (minutes). “It’s about legs in March and we don’t have the depth we thought we had going into the season.”
Imai didn’t score but had two rebounds in her first action after missing the previous six games.
Jovi Lefotu had five points and two rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench.
BIG WEST WOMEN
Conference Overall
W L Pct. GB W L
UC Davis 6 1 .857 — 12 5
UC Irvine 5 1 .833 1
⁄2 11 5
Long Beach St. 5 1 .833 1
⁄2 9 6
Hawaii 4 2 .667 11
⁄2 10 6
UC Riverside 4 2 .667 11
⁄2 8 8
UCSB 3 3 .500 21
⁄2 9 7
UC San Diego 3 3 .500 21
⁄2 7 11
Cal Poly 3 4 .429 3 8 9
CS Bakersfield 1 5 .167 41
⁄2 1 15
CS Northridge 1 6 .143 5 3 13
CS Fullerton 0 7 .000 6 2 15
Thursday
Hawaii 75, Cal State Northridge 47
UC Davis 63, Cal Poly 51
UC Riverside 62, UC Santa Barbara 52
UC San Diego 79, Long Beach State 68
UC Irvine 79, Cal State Fullerton 63
Saturday
Hawaii at Cal State Bakersfield, noon
Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton
UC Irvine at Cal Poly
UC Riverside at UC San Diego
UC Santa Barbara at UC Davis
HAWAII 75,
CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE 47
RAINBOW WAHINE (10-6,4-2 )
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
Perez 24:33 7-9 3-3 6 1 0 19
Tamilo 15:30 3-6 4-4 3 1 0 11
Wahinekapu
17:48 5-9 0-0 5 3 0 13
Peacock 13:41 0-3 0-0 1 1 2 0
McBee 20:28 1-5 0-0 5 0 0 2
‘Uhila 24:46 2-6 4-4 8 7 0 8
Lefotu 15:14 2-4 0-0 1 2 3 5
Moors 18:41 0-2 1-2 1 1 1 1
Rewers 22:13 6-14 0-0 4 1 4 13
Imai 8:44 0-1 0-0 2 0 2 0
Eilemu 13:58 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 0
Birdsong 4:24 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 3
TEAM 8
TOTALS 200 27-62 12-13 44 18 13 75
MATADORS (3-13, 1-6)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
Orji 26:00 2-10 1-4 2 1 4 5
Kilty 19:24 0-2 0-0 4 2 0 0
Tumlin 28:55 2-7 0-0 3 1 2 6
Edwards 30:16 4-11 0-0 4 0 2 10
Aspajo 38:03 6-15 0-0 0 5 2 14
Cox 8:21 0-2 2-2 6 0 3 2
Dahlin 28:41 1-7 4-4 6 1 1 7
Lizama 20:20 1-4 0-0 3 0 0 3
TEAM 7
TOTALS 200 16-58 7-10 35 10 14 47
Score By Period
Hawaii 19 26 15 15 – 75
CS Northridge 14 10 11 12 – 47
3-point goals — Hawaii 9-31 (Perez 2-4,
Tamilo 1-2, Wahinekapu 3-5, Peacock 0-3,
McBee 0-4, ‘Uhila 0-2, Lefotu 1-2, Moors
0-1, Rewers 1-4, Imai 0-1, Filemu 0-2, Birdsong 1-1). Cal State Northridge 8-32 (Orji
0-1, Kilty 0-2, Tumlin 2-7, Edwards 2-7, Aspajo 2-6, Cox 0-0, Dahlin 1-6, Lizama 1-3.
Steals — Hawaii 9 (Perez 2, Tamilo 3, Peacock 1, McBee 2, ‘Uhila 1). Cal State
Northridge 7 (Orji 4, Edwards 1, Aspajo 1,
Dahlin 1). Blocked shots — Hawaii 6 (Perez 3, Tamilo 2, Peacock). Cal State
Northridge 3 (Orji, Edwards, Dahlin). Turnovers — Hawaii 12 (Perez 2, Tamilo, Peacock 3, McBee, ‘Uhila 3, Filemu, Birdsong).
Cal State Northridge 16 (Orji, Kilty, Tumlin
2, Edwards 5, Aspajo 2, Dahlin 2, Lizama
2, Team).
Technical fouls — none. Officials —
Michol Murray, Kaili Kimura, Clifford Sims.
Time — 1:43. A — 160.
