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Hawaii’s hottest shooting performance of the season carried the Rainbow Wahine basketball team to an 87-79 win over Cal Poly on Thursday in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Guard Sarah Toeaina led the Rainbow Wahine with a career-high 25 points, senior Briana Harris tied her career best with 24 and UH (6-10, 2-2 Big West) shot 57 percent from the field in its first road win of the season.
“It’s huge for this young group to rally together, execute the way they did, sustain energy and really believe in themselves,” UH coach Laura Beeman said in a phone interview. “They stepped on that court and believed that they could win and executed brilliantly. It was a beautiful game to watch.”
Freshman Julissa Tago posted a season-high 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting and forward Makenna Woodfolk went 4-for-5 in an eight-point, nine-rebound performance for UH, which entered the night 0-7 on the road this season and 1-4 all-time at the Mott Athletics Center.
The Wahine dished out a season-high 16 assists, led by Toeaina’s career-high six.
“We needed to share the ball and the ball found the open player and we got really good looks at the rim,” Beeman said.
Guard Lynn Leaupepe led Cal Poly (6-11, 2-3) with 21 points and forward Hannah Gilbert had 14 before fouling out. But UH’s shooting helped limit the Mustangs’ transition attack for most of the night.
“The pace on offense dictated our pace on defense,” Beeman said. “Usually we’re different. Usually, our defense generates our offense and tonight our offense generated everything we did.”
UH continues the road trip Saturday at UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos (8-9, 3-1) knocked off first-place Long Beach State 65-60 on Thursday.
