Box Score

HONOLULU - Nevada's pressure defense harassed Hawai`i into a season-high 32 turnovers, keying a 66-61 win Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Wahine dropped to 11-7 overall and 2-5 in the WAC with its fifth loss in the last six contests.

Freshman Brandi Fitzgerald scored a team-high 18 points and Traci Graham notched 13 to help lead the Wolf Pack (7-12, 3-4) to its fourth straight win and the first WAC road win for third-year head coach Kim Gervasoni.

Amy Sanders scored a game-high 19 points, Janevia Taylor chipped in 13 points and six steals, and Brittany Grice added 19 points and five blocks in the loss. Hawaii has lost three of its first four WAC home games and slip to eighth place in the conference standings.

The Wolf Pack's pressure defense generated 19 steals and flustered the Rainbow Wahine all game. UH failed to get in sync offensively and trailed by double-digits in the first half and by as many as nine the second half. Yet despite their problems the Rainbow Wahine had a chance to win the game.

Nevada used a 13-0 run to take a 32-18 lead with a little more than three minutes left in the half. At that point, UH had nearly as many turnovers (17) as they did points (18). UH, however, responded with an 11-0 run to close the half a trailed by just three points at the break.

Four turnovers in the first two minutes of the second half put UH in the hole again, but the Rainbow Wahine eventually took its first lead since early in game when Sander's breakway layup put UH up, 52-51, with 6:44 remaining. The game went down to the wire as Hawaii, trailing 63-61, had a chance to tie it up. But a Sanders driving layup with eight seconds left fell off the mark.

The Rainbow Wahine next head to the road for a pair of WAC games, starting with the team's first ever conference meeting with Idaho. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2.

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