Box Score

BOISE, Idaho - The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team concluded their final regular season road trip on Saturday night with a 66-55 loss to Boise State at the Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho. The Rainbow Wahine split their road trip to Idaho, beating the Vandals on Thursday night.

Saturday night, the Rainbow Wahine hung with the WAC leaders during the first half, and made a late push in the second half, but in the end it wasn't enough. With the loss UH falls to 11-16 overall and 5-9 in conference play. Boise State remains the WAC leader with a 13-2 conference record and a 21-6 overall mark.

After trailing by three at halftime, the big swing in the game came right after the break, when Boise State opened up one of its biggest leads of the game 33-22 with 15:07 left. UH cut the lead to 41-37 with 9:36 left in the game, but Boise State pulled away down the stretch.

Overall, the Rainbow Wahine were led by Saundra Cariaga, who scored a game-high 15 points. Tanya Smith had her 18th double-double of the year with 12 points and 14 rebounds and Leilani Galdones came off the bench to score eight points, all in the second half.

As a team UH had one of its lowest shooting percentages of the year, going 18 of 56 (32.1 percent) from the field. But the Rainbow Wahine outrebounded the Broncos 50-31 to stay in the game.

In the opening half, the Rainbow Wahine found themselves only trailing 25-22, despite shooting 30.8 percent from the floor and committing 17 turnovers. UH once again played solid defense, holding Boise State to 29.4 percent shooting and outrebounding the Broncos 25-16.

Offensively the Rainbow Wahine had a balanced attack, with Amy Kotani leading the way with five points. Smith had four points and seven rebounds and Tara Hittle and Cariaga each added four points.

The Rainbow Wahine return to the island for their final two regular season games of the year next week at the Stan Sheriff Center. UH faces Louisiana Tech on Thursday, March 6 at 7 p.m. before facing New Mexico State on senior night Saturday, March 8 at 7 p.m.

-UH-