Held to one point in the first half, Hawaii guard Lily Wahinekapu’s streak of double-digit scoring performances appeared in jeopardy 20 minutes into Thursday’s game at UC Riverside.
The sophomore turned defense into offense coming out of halftime to extend her run with 10 points in the third quarter and the Rainbow Wahine basketball team rallied to a 60-49 win over UC Riverside at SRC Arena in Riverside, Calif.
Wahinekapu finished with a team-high 17 points in her 12th straight double-digit performance and swiped a season-best six steals to help the Rainbow Wahine (13-13, 11-6 Big West) erase an 11-point deficit to reach .500 overall for the first time this season and move into a tie for third place in the conference standings.
UH picked up its fifth win in the past six games to catch UC Santa Barbara for third place. The Wahine close the final road trip of the regular season at second-place UC Irvine (21-5, 13-2) on Saturday at the Bren Events Center.
UH’s trapping defense contributed to a season-high 15 steals and UH coach Laura Beeman credited a stronger rebounding effort in the second half after UCR took a 22-12 advantage on the boards into halftime.
“The trap definitely gave us some juice,” Beeman said in a phone interview. “It energized the kids a little bit. They like being that aggressive and it gave us some good offensive looks.
“They understand what’s at stake. We need to win these next games, and that’s going to happen partially by what we do on the boards and what we do on the defensive side of the ball and what we do at the free-throw line.”
Led by guard Jordan Webster, UC Riverside opened up an 11-point margin in the second quarter and led 35-26 with 6:21 left in the third quarter. Wahinekapu then scored 10 points in a 20-3 UH run capped by Kelsie Imai’s 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter.
Wahinekapu converted three steals into layups during the run and scored on a drive just before the third-quarter buzzer.
“She’s a competitor, and when she’s able to get up and play and do what she wants to do she has a lot of fun,” Beeman said. “And when Lily has fun she’s really good.”
After Imai’s 3-pointer at the 9:43 mark, UH had just one more field goal in the game, a Kallin Spiller 3-pointer to give UH a 54-49 lead with 2:28 left. Both teams went 2-for-15 from the field in the fourth quarter, but the Wahine went 11-for-12 from the free-throw line in that period to earn the victory.
UH went 15-for-18 from the line overall, with Wahinekapu (7-for-8), Imai (4-for-4) and Daejah Phillips (4-for-6) accounting for all of the team’s attempts. Phillips finished with 10 points and three steals.
“I was really proud of how the girls attacked, and then they got to the free-throw line and I thought at the end of the game our execution was good,” Beeman said.
Freshman forward Imani Perez scored nine of her career-high 11 points in the first half to help UH maintain contact with the Highlanders and matched Spiller with six rebounds.
“She made herself available for layups and she made her layups,” Beeman said. “She was big on the boards, she hit a 3 and I loved the fact that she was confident enough to take that.”
Webster led UCR (5-22, 3-14) with 20 points, with two 3-pointers and a 10-for-12 showing from the free-throw line. The Highlanders went 4-for-24 from the field in the second half in their sixth straight loss.
Senior night deal
All students K-12 will receive free admission to UH’s senior-night game against UC Santa Barbara on March 4 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The first 1,000 fans through the gates will receive Braddahhood/Sistahhood wristbands.
