Daejah Phillips scored 22 of her career-high 29 points in the second half and the Hawaii women’s basketball team took over sole possession of first place in the Big West with an 80-68 win over Long Beach State today at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.

Forced to sit the final seven minutes of the first half due to foul trouble, Phillips made her first nine field-goal attempts in the second half to lead the Rainbow Wahine (16-9, 13-3) to their seventh win in their past eight games.

Phillips had 16 points in the fourth quarter as Long Beach State couldn’t keep her out of the paint. Her driving layup with 3:42 remaining gave Hawaii its largest lead of the game at 75-57.

Imani Perez added 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocks in 32 minutes played, but had to be helped off the court late in the fourth quarter after battling for a rebound in the paint.

Jacque David played 17 minutes and had a season-high nine points.

Olivia Davies, who had started the previous 17 games, missed her second game of the season. Jade Peacock made her first career start in place of Davies and had four points, three rebounds and two assists.

Hawaii is alone in first place heading into the final four games of the regular season after UC Irvine lost in overtime to UC San Diego today.

The Rainbow Wahine play their final two home games against teams they lost to on the road, beginning with UC Davis on Thursday and then UC Riverside two days later.