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Shawna-Lei Kuehu at Cal State Fullerton

Women's Basketball

VIDEO: Hawai`i Falls at Cal State Fullerton in Big West Opener, 83-74

Photo credit: CapturedbyWarren
Box Score  (xml)  |  Box Score (html)
Highlights & Post-game Interview

FULLERTON, Calif.—The University of Hawai`i women's basketball team (4-8, 0-1 Big West) fell in their Big West opener at Cal State Fullerton, 83-74. Three UH players scored in double figures for UH, led by Kamilah Martin's 23 points which tied her season high. Martin and Ashleigh Karaitiana both had a game-high eight rebounds at Titan Gym on Thursday night.
 
For Martin, it was the fourth time this season that she broke the 20-point mark and the ninth time this season that she's been the team's high-scorer. Martin was an efficient 7-of-9 in field goals and 9-of-12 from the free throw line. She also tied her season-high with four assists with a steal.
 
Karaitiana added 10 points—9 of which came in the first half. She sunk 4-of-10 field goals and dished out a season-high four assists. Shawna-Lei Kuehu had her best game of the season, scoring 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting with five rebounds, a steal and a game-high two blocked shots.
 
The 'Bows came out firing in the first half, starting the game off with back-to-back treys by Monica DeAngelis and Karaitiana and the 'Bows raced out to their biggest lead of the game at 14-5. Later, with UH leading 25-18, the Titans went on a 9-to-0 run to overtake UH, 27-25 with a pair of free throws by Tailer Butler. The first half—which had four ties and six lead changes—ended with Vicky Tagalicod getting a friendly roll on a short jumpshot with three-seconds left to take a 35-33 lead into the break.
 
In the second half, both teams battled trading baskets back-and-forth with five ties and seven lead changes and neither team getting a lead bigger than five points through the first 17 minutes. Hawai`i tied the game at 69-69 with 2:44 left, on a free throw by Kuehu. But the Titans responded with Tailer Butler hitting her seventh 3-pointer of the game to go up 74-69. Down the stretch as the clock ticked down, the 'Bows needed to foul, and the Titans came through by hitting 9-of-10 clutch free throws within the last minute-and-a-half. CSUF
 
For the fifth straight game and seventh time this season, UH out-rebounded their opponents, 37-to-18 which in-turn led to the 'Bows outscoring the Titans 14-to-3 in second chance points. Hawai`i's post players also outscored Fullerton, 36-to-20 in points in the paint.
 
However, the Rainbow Wahine struggled to contain on defense, allowing two Cal State Fullerton players score at least 20 points—including Butler who tied a UH opponent-record with seven 3-pointers made with a total of 27 points. The Titan's press forced UH to make unfortunate decisions with the ball which in turn, led to 36 CSUF points off of Hawai`i's miscues. For Hawai`i, the 24 turnovers was a season-high for the team that tied the program all-time low of four last week against LIU Brooklyn (Dec. 18).
 
The Rainbow Wahine are now 18-11 in conference season openers and 7-5 in road conference openers. It marked the first game for the Rainbow Wahine in the Big West in 16 years. UH is now 11-2 in Big West openers.
 
Hawai`i has a quick turnaround as they head to UC Riverside to take on the Highlanders (7-5, 0-1 Big West) on Saturday, Jan. 5.
 
-UH-
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