As Hawaii coach Laura Beeman works through different combinations and lineups of players to start the season, she’s able to do it while also racking up wins.
Hawaii’s 3-1 start matches its best win-loss record to open the season since 2015 following a 67-55 win over Eastern Washington on Sunday to cap an undefeated two games in the Bank of Hawaii Classic.
A SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 895 saw the Rainbow Wahine win the tournament title over Saint Mary’s using a tiebreaker of most points scored.
MeiLani McBee scored 12 points, all from behind the 3-point line, and Imani Perez added 11 points to lead Hawaii.
Lily Wahinekapu, who was named the most valuable player in the tournament, followed up her 20-point performance in Friday’s win over Louisiana-Monroe with nine points, eight rebounds and four assists against the Eagles (1-5).
“It’s great to see nine people with double-digit minutes and it’s great when there is a lot of attention on one player, someone else can step up,” Beeman said. “I thought today we did a really good job of limiting their offensive boards. I thought the attention to detail (in turnovers and rebounding) was noticeable.”
McBee, who made three 3-pointers during a 13-0 run spanning the second and third quarters, drilled her last one from the right corner with 2:53 left in the game to put Hawaii back up by double digits.
It was the 167th made 3-pointer of her career, tying Megan Tinnin for second-most in program history, 38 behind Amy Atwell.
“I practice them all of the time so it wasn’t anything special,” McBee said. “If anything, I just want put myself in that expectation to what to do better and get more out of what I am doing on the court. My teammates have my back all of the time, even my coaches. They encourage me to shoot more.”
Hawaii started the game on a 12-3 run boosted by four quick points from center Brooklyn Rewers off the bench.
Jaecy Eggers’ two free throws capped a 7-0 run by the Eagles to close within a basket before Mia ‘Uhila set up Perez for a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put UH ahead 15-10 after the first quarter.
The Rainbow Wahine closed the first half on an 8-0 run in the final 1 minute, 14 seconds. McBee hit two 3-pointers, including one off of one foot as time expired on the shot clock with seconds left on the game clock to give Hawaii a 38-26 halftime lead.
“She’s going to get hot close outs, so she has to be a little more savvy and allow herself to get a shot off when it is 3, 2, 1…,” Beeman said. “We don’t want to not get a shot off so she has worked on a lot of that footwork.”
UH turned the ball over only four times in the first half and shot 45.2 percent (14-for-31) from the field with Perez leading the way with nine points.
McBee splashed a corner 3 for her third of the game to start the second half and Ritorya Tamilo’s turnaround jumper made it a 13-0 run spanning two quarters to give UH its largest lead at 43-26.
Ella Gallatin and Peyton Howard, who finished with a game-high 14 points, answered with 3-pointers back-to-back for the Eagles, who never get closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Perez and Tamilo started alongside each other for the second game in a row, giving UH two post players who are 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-5.
Tamilo finished with eight points on 3-for-6 shooting with two blocks. Perez also had three rebounds, two steals and a block.
“I would say it’s really great playing with her. It gives me another tall person to just throw it up to and she goes and gets it and is really strong with it,” Perez said. “She draws a lot of people so obviously it opens me up on the outside and vice versa.”
Hawaii returns to the court for three games in three days next weekend in the American Savings Bank Rainbow Wahine Showdown.
UH will close the tournament Sunday against No. 5 UCLA, which beat defending national champion No. 1 South Carolina 77-62 on Sunday, ending the Gamecocks’ 43-game winning streak.
“I guarantee you UCLA is going to be the No. 1 team in the country come Sunday,” Beeman said. “They don’t care where they are, or who they are playing. They are trying to make a statement.”
HAWAII 67,
EASTERN WASHINGTON 55
EAGLES (1-5)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
Eggers 22:45 3-9 2-2 6 1 2 9
Hays 22:42 3-6 0-0 1 1 0 6
Gallatin 15:31 2-6 0-0 6 1 1 6
Schuler 19:11 2-5 0-0 1 1 2 4
Howard 35:18 5-12 2-4 4 6 2 14
Pettis 26:02 3-9 2-2 4 1 3 9
Boni 28:43 1-4 0-0 3 2 0 2
Grossman23:23 2-5 0-0 4 1 3 5
Kirk 3:28 0-2 0-0 1 0 0 0
McElmurry 2:57 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
TEAM 3
TOTALS 200 21-58 6-8 33 14 13 55
RAINBOW WAHINE (3-1)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
Perez 29:21 5-11 0-0 3 1 1 11
Tamilo 14:13 3-6 2-2 0 0 1 8
Wahinekapu
25:38 4-7 1-2 8 4 2 9
Phillips 31:32 3-7 1-2 1 2 1 7
McBee 29:45 4-9 0-0 4 1 3 12
Imai 13:56 1-2 3-4 1 0 0 5
Rewers 15:38 3-7 2-2 7 0 0 9
Peacock 18:53 2-6 0-0 3 0 0 4
Uhila 5:48 0-0 0-0 1 2 0 0
Lefotu 13:12 1-5 0-0 2 2 2 2
Kujovic 2:04 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
TEAM 7
TOTALS 200 26-61 9-12 37 12 10 67
Score By Period
Eastern Wash. 10 16 18 11 – 55
Hawaii 15 23 17 12 – 67
3-point goals — Eastern Washington
7-20 (Eggers 1-5, Gallatin 2-5, Schuler
0-1, Howard 2-5, Pettis 1-1, Boni 0-1,
Grossman 1-2). Hawaii 6-22 (Perez 1-4,
Tamilo 0-1, Wahinekapu 0-2, Phillips 0-1,
McBee 4-7, Imai 0-1, Rewers 1-1, Peacock 0-3, Lefotu 0-1, Kujovic 0-1).
Steals — Eastern Washington 4 (Eggers,
Hays, Howard 2). Hawaii 10 (Perez 2,
Wahinekapu 1, Phillips 3, McBee 3, Uhila
1). Blocked shots — Eastern Washington 7 (Eggers 1, Hays 2, Howard 2, Boni
1, Kirk 1). Hawaii 7 (Perez 1, Tamilo 2,
McBee 1, Rewers 2, Peacock 1). Turnovers — Eastern Washington 16
(Schuler 4, Howard 3, Pettis 1, Boni 2,
Grossman 4, McElmurry 1). Hawaii 11
(Tamilo 2, Wahinekapu 1, Phillips 2, Imai
2, Rewers 2, Lefotu 1). Technical fouls
— none. Officials — Tyler Trimble, Teresa
Turner, Steve Piercy. A — 895.
