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HONOLULU—The University of Hawai`i women's basketball team (6-8, 2-1 Big West) defeated UC Irvine in their Big West home opener, 56-46 on Wednesday night. Rookie guard
Ashleigh Karaitiana poured in a game-high 16 points while Kamilah Martin grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds en route to the win.
Karaitiana was 8-of-15 from the floor with most of her points coming off of layups as she cut to the basket. She also contributed two rebounds, two assists, and a career-high three steals. Her 16 points tied her career-high that she scored against Arkansas (Nov. 24).
Martin was a bucket shy of notching her sixth double-double of the season. She was just 1-of-3 from the floor but sunk 6-of-6 free throws to give her eight points in the game. She had two offensive boards and grabbed 10 off of the defensive glass.
Hawai`i led the game from start to finish with UC Irvine (4-11, 0-3 Big West) tying the score just twice early in the first half. As a team, UH edged out the Anteaters in rebounds (39-to-36) and outscored UCI 32-to-20 in points in the paint and 17-to-13 in points off of turnovers. Hawai`i's reserves outscored their opponents, 23-to-21. All 11 UH players who saw action on the court scored at least two points in the game.
The Rainbow Wahine shot 41.8% for the game from the floor—including 54.5% in the second half to hold UC Irvine at bay. UH's defense then closed ranks on the Anteaters in the second half, allowing them to shoot just 26.9% in field goals and 29.1% for the game.
In a close first half, Hawai`i took a 24-20 lead into the break. Although UH led throughout, the 'Bows could only pull ahead at most by six points before the Anteaters would respond and chip away at their deficit. Going into the half, Hawai`i's balanced attack had
Kalei Adolpho,
Shawna-Lei Kuehu,
Diane Moore and Karaitiana all leading UH with four points apiece.
The Rainbow Wahine held the lead the entire second half, allowing UCI to get no closer than three points early. Late in the game, UH built as big a lead as 12 points with 20-seconds left in the game.
UC Irvine's Jasmine Bernard also scored a game-high 16 points while Jennifer Tsurumoto had a team-high nine rebounds.
Hawai`i now leads the series against UC Irvine, 22-7--with UH winning the last six games.
Before the game, the 'Bows recognized their first-ever, Honorary Captain for the game –Vince Goo. Goo coached the Rainbow Wahine from 1987-2004 and is tied with Riley Wallace as UH's all-time winningest basketball coach with a record of 334-166 (.669). Goo led his teams to three conference titles (two in the Big West and one in the Western Athletic Conference) and advanced to the post-season 10 times (five NCAA tournament and five WNIT appearances). Goo was voted Big West Coach of the Year three times (1988-89, 1992-93, and 1993-94).
Hawai`i concludes their two-game homestand on Sunday, Jan. 13 against Long Beach State at 5:00 pm following the Rainbow Wahine's annual Alumnae Game which starts at 2:30 pm.
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