Box Score Box Score

HONOLULU—The University of Hawai`i women's basketball team (5-8) held off a scrappy Alcorn State team to open the Pepsi Rainbow Wahine Invitational with 66-63 win. Senior forward Breanna Arbuckle led a trio of UH players who scored in double-figures while sophomore forward Kamilah Jackson had a game-high 10 rebounds on Wednesday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
 
Arbuckle scored a team-high 17 points—10 of which came in the second half. She sank three crucial free-throws and had one of her three blocks in the final three minutes of the game to help lift the 'Bows over the Braves. Arbuckle went to the free-throw line eight times and drilled a career-high 13-out-of-15 foul shots. She also contributed six rebounds and tied her career-high with five assists.
 
Joining Arbuckle in the double-digit points club tonight were Vicky Tagalicod and Kanisha Bello. Tagalicod--who is in just her second week of action--was just one rebound short of recording her first double-double as she tallied season-highs of 14 points and nine rebounds. She went 6-of-13 from the floor and 2-of-4 from the charity stripe. Bello posted 13 points on 3-of-6 shooting with one 3-pointer while going a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. She chipped in a career-high six rebounds. Freshman point guard Alissa Campanero tied her career-high with six assists, but also had six turnovers in 38 minutes of action. Jackson had her five-game double-double streak come to a close as she was just one point shy of getting her sixth in a row. She scored nine points to go with her 10 rebounds with an assist and a steal.
 
As a team, the 'Bows shot 50% from the floor in the second half (10-of-20) and ended with a 42.6 field-goal percentage (20-for-47). The 'Bows won the rebounding battle 42-to-39 and outscored the Braves 30-to-20 in points in the paint, but Alcorn State was able to convert UH's 20 turnovers into 22 points to UH's seven points on 15 take-aways. The Braves also outscored UH's bench 27-to-8. But most importantly for UH, after making just 10-of-22 foul shots in their last game, UH shot 75.8% from the free-throw line (25-of-33) which made a huge difference in the game.
 
The Rainbow Wahine jumped out to an early 14-5 lead by the first media time out, and again built a nine point lead at 16-7 with 14:14 left in the first half. But Alcorn State would start chipping away on a 7-0 run to cut their deficit to just two points before a pair of Bello free-throws stopped the drought. The game was tied twice in the first half, with 6:30 at 23-23 and later with 35 seconds left, Alcorn State's Kiara Ruffin sank a 3-pointer to tie the game at 31-31.
 
Hawai`i did just enough to not relinquish their lead by holding off Alcorn State through most of the second half. UH had as big as a six point lead with 13:06 to go in the game, but most of the half saw the 'Bows hold on to just a 1-to-3 point lead. But with under five minutes left, Alcorn State's Carolinsia Crumbly tied the game on a jumper at 57-57.  A subsequent turnover bu UH gave the Braves an opportunity and Breanna Whitfield came through with a 3-pointer to take their first lead of the game with 4:20 left.
 
With the game coming down to the wire, it was almost a carbon copy of UH's last game against UC Davis, with the 'Bows hanging on to the lead until the Aggies tied the game and overtook the Rainbow Wahine with less than two minutes left in the game to had UH the loss. But this time, the 'Bows battled back. Tagalicod's jumper with 3:23 left tied the game again at 61-61 and a foul shot by Arbuckle gave UH the lead again, 62-61. Alcorn State though see-sawed ahead with 1:41 left on a jumper by Shamika Breedlove to make it 62-63. But Arbuckle and Bello both sank pressure two free-throws a piece to seal UH's fourth win in five games.
 
The tournament continues tomorrow with North Carolina State (8-3) taking on Alcorn State (2-8) at 4:00 p.m. Hawai`i will then take on Florida Gulf Coast (8-2) at 6:00 p.m. The UH men's basketball team will play South Carolina State after the women's game at 8:00 p.m.