Hawaii enters tonight’s women’s basketball game against Cal Poly with nine consecutive wins — a streak that started against these same Mustangs, Jan. 4 at their homecourt in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Tonight UH is the host, on a court where it hasn’t lost since last year. In January, the Wahine went 4-0 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, and are double-digit favorites tonight to extend their longest winning streak since they won 15 in a row during the 2014-15 season.
UH, which is tied atop the Big West standings at 9-2 with UC Irvine, also has a streak of seven wins against Cal Poly.
The score was 62-50 when they met last month, as the Wahine starting backcourt of Lily Wahinekapu and MeiLani McBee led the way with 14 points each.
Wahinekapu is Hawaii’s leading scorer with 10.6 points per game. The senior also paces the team with 2.8 assists and 1.3 steals.
As they showed the first time around against Cal Poly, UH wins with defense,.
The Wahine limited the Mustangs’ top scorer, Annika Shah, to five points on 1-for-11 shooting from the field. Shah leads Cal Poly with 14.3 points-per-game, and shoots nearly 40% from 3-point range. But she was 1-for-7 from beyond the arc at home against UH.
Hawaii is fourth in the nation in opponents’ field goal shooting at 33.8%.
UH is 19th nationally with 4.9 blocks-per-game. Rim protection has been a team effort, with freshman Ritorya Tamilo (1.4), Imani Perez (1.1), and Brooklyn Rewers (1.0) all averaging at least one rejection per game. Daniela Kujovic has also swatted eight shots in limited action in six games.
Tamilo also leads Hawaii in rebounding with 5.0 per game.
RAINBOW WAHINE BASKETBALL
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
CAL POLY (10-11, 5-6 Big West) at HAWAII (15-6, 9-2)
>> When: Today at 7 p.m.
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: 1500-AM
