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Sports

Kanekoa tops 1,000-point mark

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARADVERTISER.COM
Keisha Kanekoa had 22 points against Cal State Bakersfield to become the 16th UH player to reach 1,000.

Stats fanatics had a field day last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. So did Hawaii freshman forward Kamilah Jackson and senior point guard Keisha Kanekoa.

Jackson had one of the finest games in Rainbow Wahine history with 31 points and 25 rebounds, and Kanekoa reached the 1,000-point career plateau with 22 points in UH’s 84-74 win over Cal State Bakersfield.

"I didn’t even know (what I had) until my teammates were telling me at the end," said Jackson, the double-double machine — it was her seventh this year — who had 12 offensive boards in 38 minutes. "It was just great."

With a little more than 8 minutes left, Kanekoa became the 16th Rainbow Wahine player to reach the mark. The Honokaa High alum is the fourth local player to accomplish the feat, after Nani Cockett, Lynette Liu and Kaui Wakita.

Most of the turnstile crowd of 571 stayed after UH improved to 6-6 and cheered while Kanekoa was presented with the game ball. Some of her family came over from the Big Island to see it happen.

"I guess Coach said it’s the monkey off my back," Kanekoa said. "It’s done. It’s kinda relieving."

The night, however, was seized by Jackson, along with so many caroms. She broke Judy Mosley’s freshman scoring record of 30 points, set in 1987, and tied Tanya Smith’s Sheriff record for rebounds, which is one off the school record of 26.

"Oh my God. She went off," Kanekoa said.

"Kamilah’s such a solid performer, and she’s been a godsend to our team," UH coach Dana Takahara-Dias said. "She’s steady as a rock, she’s got poise like no other freshman I have seen. … (On Keisha) she is a captain and a leader out here. (On Tuesday) she didn’t have the game she wanted (five points), but she followed it up big on this one."

Jackson, at 5 feet 11, didn’t have a height advantage over the Roadrunners. But she consistently worked for superior position underneath the basket, negating UH’s zero 3-point makes. Behind her, UH had a 48-22 advantage on points in the paint and won the rebounding battle 57-35.

CSUB (9-9) remained in the game behind its 3-point shooting. Much as they did last year in Bakersfield, when they set the UH opponent record for 3s at 15 in a 105-75 CSUB win, the Roadrunners burned the Wahine on the perimeter, this time with 12 3-pointers.

But the Wahine put the game away with 80 pecent free-throw shooting (28-for-35). Kanekoa needed 11 points coming into the night for 1,000, and got twice that by virtue of a 10-for-11 night on free throws.

UNLV (6-7) beat Columbia (0-11) 93-46 in the first game yesterday. UH concludes the three-day Pepsi Rainbow Wahine Invitational today at 7 p.m. against the Rebels.

HAWAII 84, CSU BAKERSFIELD 74

Roadrunners (9-9)

  fg-a ft-a rb pf pts a to min
Davis 0-5 0-0 1 5 0 0 0 19
Williams 5-18 2-4 1 3 14 1 2 30
Herman 6-13 0-0 1 3 16 1 0 21
Outland 4-13 5-6 5 1 15 5 2 25
Johnson 2-4 1-1 6 2 6 2 2 22
Smith 0-1 0-0 1 3 0 1 0 7
McGee 5-14 0-1 9 4 13 2 6 26
Fields 1-3 0-0 1 0 2 3 1 21
Leon 2-4 0-0 3 0 4 0 0 15
Brown 2-4 0-0 2 4 4 0 0 14
Team     5          
Totals 27-78 8-12 35 25 74 15 13 200  

RAINBOW WAHINE (6-6)

  fg-a ft-a rb pf pts a to min
Jackson 11-18 9-12 25 1 31 2 3 38
Arbuckle 2-7 0-0 8 3 4 1 6 40
Tinnin 1-9 5-6 8 3 7 1 3 29
Kuehu 5-13 3-5 6 1 13 4 2 34
Kanekoa 6-10 10-11 3 3 22 1 5 34
Haydel 2-6 1-1 3 1 5 1 0 11
Dew 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Ayabe 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 2 2 12
Team     3       1  
Totals 28-65 28-35 57 13 84 12 22 200

Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.

Halftime — Hawaii 41, CS Bakersfield 32.

3-point goals — CS Bakersfield 12-26 (Herman 4-8, McGee 3-8, Williams 2-4, Outland 2-4, Johnson 1-1, Fields 0-1). Hawaii 0-7 (Tinnin 0-5, Kuehu 0-1, Kanekoa 0-1).

Steals — CS Bakersfield 15 (Johnson 3, McGee 3, Williams 2, Outland 2, Brown 2, Herman, Fields, Leon). Hawaii 7 (Kuehu 4, Arbuckle, Tinnin, Kanekoa).

Blocked shots — CS Bakersfield 2 (Smith, Fields). Hawaii 7 (Arbuckle 3, Kuehu 2, Kanekoa 2).

Technical foul — CS Bakersfield (Smith).

Officials — Kyle Bacon, Todd Apo, Mike Ishikawa. A–571.

 

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