University of Hawaii women’s basketball team closes road trip with loss to UC Santa Barbara

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Three long road trips in a span of three weekends finally caught up with Hawaii on Saturday.

Host UC Santa Barbara exploded with a 27-8 third-quarter run to overwhelm the Rainbow Wahine 72-50, earning a split of their two-game series at the UCSB Events Center, also known as The Thunderdome.

Doris Jones pumped in 23 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead UCSB (3-12), which ended a six-game losing streak and improved to 3-8 in Big West Conference play. Alyssa Marin added 12 points and Taylor Mole hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds.

Freshman Daejah Phillips led Hawaii (5-6, 4-5 BWC) with 16 points. Kasey Neubert and Alicja Falkowska had eight points each.

During the three road ventures, Hawaii went 2-3, racking up 7,644 air miles total.

Yet, the Rainbow Wahine had their chances. They trailed by eight at intermission on Friday and rallied for a 72-62 win. On Saturday, the tank went empty as a blitzkrieg by the Gauchos turned a 35-29 halftime lead into a 62-35 runaway entering the final quarter.

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Hawaii got no closer than 22 points in the final 10 minutes.

Hawaii’s home series with Cal State Northridge next weekend has been canceled. UH will travel to Long Beach State for games on Feb. 26 and 27. By the time the Rainbow Wahine host UC Davis in a season-ending series on March 5-6, they will have gone 41 days without a home game.

Unlike Friday’s battle, UCSB jumped out to a strong start with a 9-2 lead. After Marin’s free throw late in the first quarter, the Gauchos opened a 20-10 advantage.

Nearly halfway through the second quarter, Jones’ 3 extended UCSB’s lead to 29-18. A three-point play by Falkowska, plus foul shots by Phillips and Kodee Viena kept Hawaii within striking distance. Viena, a walk-on transfer from Hope International, scored on a drive and Phillips scored inside with 7 seconds left to bring the Rainbow Wahine within 35-29 at the half.

The home team bolted out of the gates in the second half with a 14-0 run, including 3-pointers by Marin and Jones. UCSB led 48-29 with 7:02 left in the third quarter.

Hawaii went more than 5 minutes without a point as the Gauchos expanded its lead to 62-33 in the final minute of the third period.