All road wins are big.

Some, such as Thursday’s basketball victory at UC Davis, was "humongous."

It’s how junior guard Destiny King described defeating UC Davis 58-53 at Hamilton Court at The Pavilion. It was Hawaii’s first road win in Big West play this season and King played a key role when matching her career-high with 17 points, including six during a pivotal stretch late in the second half.

"Even when we were down (35-25), we had confidence in our team," said King, who just missed a double-double when finishing with nine rebounds. "It was, OK, they had their run. Now it’s our time.

"We kept playing for each other. It was all about getting the ball to the right people at the right time."

And denying the ball to the Aggies’ outside shooters. UC Davis (8-9, 3-2) came in as the fourth-best 3-point shooting team in the country (.393), averaging nearly nine treys a game with senior guard Kelsey Harris tops nationally in 3-point shooting percentage (.396).

Hawaii (10-7, 2-2) held Davis to 3-for-9 from behind the arc and Harris was 0-for-3, finishing with a single free throw.

"We came in knowing what we needed to do defensively, because (the Aggies) love to shoot the 3," Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said. "We paid the price in the paint but better to give up 2s than 3s.

"This was huge for us because it keeps us in the mix (top four in the conference). We really needed this game. What we need now is to not let down Saturday."

The Rainbow Wahine were to fly down to UC Irvine Friday to prepare for a 2 p.m. contest with the Anteaters Saturday. Thursday night, every home team lost, including UC Irvine (3-16, 0-4) falling to CSUN 72-63.

"Going 2-0 on the road is always the goal," added King. "It’s about keeping that confidence and finding our stride."

It described Thursday night’s game by UH senior guard Ashleigh Karaitiana, who had been struggling with her shooting. Karaitiana hit as many 3s as the entire Davis team, the last two coming during a 14-6 run that gave the Wahine the lead for good at 56-48 with 3:27 left.

Hawaii got Davis’ two leading scorers in foul trouble early with both Alyson Doherty and Sydnee Fipps out for critical minutes. At one point, they had combined for 26 of the team’s 38 points.

Doherty came back to finish with a game-high 18 points and completed her fifth double-double of the season with 11 rebounds. Fipps had 10 before fouling out with 5:22 left.

"Hawaii is a really good basketball team and it was a great game all around," Aggies coach Jennifer Gross said. "For us, I think it came down to two things: we gave up too many offensive boards (18) and we turned the ball over too much (18). We played extremely hard. We just didn’t do those two things well enough to win."

Wahine freshman center Megan Huff came off the bench for 13 rebounds and eight points.

HAWAII 58, UC DAVIS 53

BIG WEST WOMEN

THURSDAY
Hawaii 58, UC Davis 53
Cal Poly 57, Cal State Fullerton 48
CSUN 72, UC Irvine 63
UC Riverside 89, UC Santa Barbara 74

SATURDAY
Hawaii at UC Irvine, noon
CSUN at Long Beach State
Cal Poly at UC Riverside
UC Santa Barbara at Cal State Fullerton