Box Score
DALLAS--Andrea Cossey scored a career-high 31 points and powered a key second half run as SMU defeated Hawaii, 74-65, Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum. The Rainbow Wahine dropped to 5-16 and 3-9 in the WAC with its fifth straight loss.
In a game of spurts, SMU (12-10, 8-5 WAC) had the final say. Cossey hit three straight 3-pointers during a crucial 17-2 second-half run in which the Mustangs turned a six-point deficit into a nine-point lead. The Rainbow Wahine almost erased a double-digit deficit but would score just two points in the final three minutes of the game.
It was a snowy afternoon in Dallas but it certainly wasn't cold inside where the teams combined for 19 3-pointers. UH hit nine treys, while Cossey finished with a school-record seven of SMU's 10 3-pointers. The Mustangs shot 52 percent from the floor.
Three players scored in double-digits led by Janevia Taylor who fired in 14 points. Amy Sanders scored a career-high 13 points, while Jade Abele added 11.
SMU charged out to a 12-2 lead in the game's first five minute, but UH exploded for 12 straight points to take the lead. SMU reclaimed the lead with nine unanswered before eventually taking a 36-32 lead at the break. Andrea Cossey scored 15 of her 20 first-half points in the first 11 minutes to power the Mustangs, while the team's combined for 12 3-pointers, including 5-of-6 shooting by the Rainbow Wahine to keep the game close.
UH scored 12 of the first 14 points of the second half to take a 44-38, its largest lead of the game. But then Cossey got hot, helping SMU retake the lead and build it to as many as 11 points. The Rainbow Wahine cut the lead to just two points on two occasions and trailed just 65-63 on Brittany Grice's free throws with 2:58 left. SMU, however, ended the game on a 9-2 run with its final seven points coming from the free throw line.
The loss was just UH's third in 16 games against SMU, which fell to Hawaii by 17 points in Honolulu earlier this year. The Mustangs picked up their fifth win in the last six games.
Hawaii returns home where it looks to pick up its first win in nearly a month as UH takes on Boise State on Thursday, February 19. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.
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