UC Davis stuffed Hawaii’s stocking with coal.

An early 17-point UH advantage fell by the wayside as Davis chipped away, rallying in stunning fashion for a 62-57 win to steal the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Shootout title on Tuesday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 630 watched the Aggies (8-4) celebrate at center court after closing out the game on a 7-0 run. The Wahine (4-8) walked off in disbelief, their three-game winning streak snapped with a late meltdown going into Christmas break.

Hawaii, UC Davis and Portland State all finished 2-1 in the round-robin tournament. However, Davis’ 176 points allowed over the three days was the fewest, and consequently the Aggies were awarded the title.

"Our coach (Jennifer Gross) points out mental toughness as our key to our team this year," said UCD junior guard Blair Shinoda, who put in the go-ahead free throws then the dagger basket on a drive with 27 seconds left. "We went through a rough patch, and she said, ‘Stay focused and confident in your shooting.’ We ended up knocking some down."

After starting 0-for-11 from 3-point land, the Aggies hit eight of their next 16. Shinoda was 1-for-8 overall before her heroics.

UH’s momentum from wins over PSU and Denver came to a grinding halt as early effective ball movement and execution vanished in the final 10 minutes. Dana Takahara-Dias’ squad has five days to regroup over Christmas break for its next tournament, starting Dec. 28.

"It’s almost unimaginable to think you have the lead for 38 minutes of the game and you slip away and (are) unable to finish," Takahara-Dias said. "Throughout the whole game, we failed to capitalize on many things we could control, like free throws."

UH was ultimately undone at the line (10-for-22, 45.5 percent) and a 19-8 turnover disparity.

Tournament MVP Kamilah Jackson notched her fifth straight double-double (11 points and 11 rebounds) but looked at her postgame hardware with a mixture of sadness and apathy. She resolved to work hard on her game over the break.

"We should have definitely won that game," Jackson said. "There were times where they made a run and we didn’t respond back to it. As a team we just have to learn how to respond to other teams making runs."

UCD, a future Big West Conference opponent, made only one of its first 17 shots but cut UH’s 20-3 lead to six by halftime and caught the Wahine at the midpoint of the second half.

The Aggies tied the Wahine on an Idit Oryon drive with 4:20 left, and took their first lead on Shinoda’s free throws with 1:59 to play.

Sophomore guard Kanisha Bello, UH’s other entry on the all-tournament team, gave UH its last lead with a baseline jumper to make it 57-55 with 2:50 to play.

See the box score.