Box Score
HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine basketball team fell behind early and could never recover in a 76-63 loss to Hartford in the semifinals of the Jack In the Box Rainbow Wahine Classic Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. UH dropped to 3-2 on the season.
Hartford (5-1), making its second-ever Rainbow Wahine Classic appearance, will face Virginia in the tournament championship game Sunday at 5:30 p.m. Meanwhile, the Rainbow Wahine will play for third place for the third straight year when they face Minnesota at 3:20 p.m.
Attempting to advance to the Classic championship for the first time in eight years, the Rainbow Wahine weren't up to task versus an energized Hartford squad. UH missed its first nine shots from the field and never found a rhythm all game. Hartford scored the first nine points of the contest and never looked back maintaining a double-digit lead for much of the game.
Danielle Hood scored a game-high 17 points for the Hawks, who shot 52 percent from the field. Freshman Keisha Kanekoa led UH with 15 points, six rebounds and five steals. Sophomore Megan Tinnin added 12 for the Rainbow Wahine. The Hawks held Tanya Smith, UH's leading scorer and rebounder, to just six points and two rebounds marking the first time in five games this year the senior post player did not record a double-double.
Hartford, out of the American East Conference and an NCAA Tournament participant in two of the last three years, shot 58 percent in the first half, leading by as many as 16 points. UH cut the lead to as little as six but Hartford scored 10 unanswered points and when Courtney Gomez banked in a three-pointer in the waning seconds of the first half, the Hawks took a comfortable 41-30 lead break.
UH got no closer than nine points in the second half as the Hawks extended its lead to as many as 19 points. The Rainbow Wahine shot just 23 percent from 3-point land and a dismal 38 percent (8-of-21) from the free throw line.
Day Two Results
UAB 67, Lipscomb 51
Texas 72, Kentucky 60
Virginia 73, Minnesota 62
Hartford 76, Hawai`i 63
Day Three Schedule
7th Place Game: Lipscomb vs. Kentucky, 11:00 a.m.
5th Place Game: UAB vs. Texas, 1:10 p.m.
3rd Place Game: Hawai`i vs. Minnesota, 3:20 p.m.
Championship: Hartford vs. Virginia, 5:30 p.m.
-UH-