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SANTA BARBARA—The University of Hawai`i women's basketball team (14-11, 10-4 Big West) held off UC Santa Barbara, 54-51 on Thursday at the Thunderdome in Santa Barbara, Calif. It was UH's third straight win as UH remained in a tie with Pacific for the Big West lead and a half game ahead of Saturday's opponent, Cal Poly. Kamilah Martin led UH scoring 14 points--12 of which came in the second half.
 
Martin was 4-for-10 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the free throw line—all of which came in the second half. Early in that second half, she scored six straight points for the 'Bows, giving UH their first five point lead of the game. She also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds for UH.
 
Two other Rainbow Wahine also scored in double figures. Shawna-Lei Kuehu tallied 12 points while Destiny King added 11—both coming off the bench. Kuehu was 6-for-12 in field goals with four rebounds. King came on strong in the second half, scoring nine of her points in the second half. She made 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch, including one-of-two with six seconds left to help seal the win for Hawai`i.
 
Hawai`i out-rebounded the Gauchos (11-14, 7-6 BWC), 27-to-23 but UCSB outscored UH in the paint 10-to-6 and off turnovers, 18-to-12. Hawai`i bench, however outscored UCSB, 26-to-2. For the second time this season, the Rainbow Wahine defense did not allow a 3-point shot made--both times were against the Gauchos.
 
The 'Bows trailed at the half, 26-24. Neither team was able to build more than a four-point lead in the first 20 minutes. Monica DeAngelis led UH, sinking three treys four nine points and Kuehu was right behind her with eight points while Martin had a team-high four rebounds.
 
In the second half, UH tied the score right out of the gate, 26-26, on a Martin jumper in the lane with 19:10 on the clock. At the 15:21 mark, Martin scored again on a layup to knot the score for the fifth time in the game at 32-32. On the play, Martin was fouled and she completed the old-fashioned three-point play to give UH the lead, 33-32. UH never looked back and led the rest of the game. Down the stretch, King sunk two free throws coming out of the last media timeout with 3:12 left to give UH a 51-48 lead. The Gauchos' Sweets Underwood then made one-of-two free throws and UCSB's Destini Mason made a jumpshot to trail by just one point, 51-50 with 2:08 left in the game.
 
But, Martin was fouled going to the basket with 1:45 left and she calmly drained two free throws to extend UH's lead to 53-50. Underwood was fouled again on the UCSB side of the court, and again she made just one of two free throws to trail 53-51. Later, with six seconds left on the clock, King made the second of two free throws to push UH's lead to three, 54-51. The Gauchos called a timeout with four seconds left and attempted a desperation trey that clanked off the side into Martin's arms to end the game.
 
UC Santa Barbara was led by Sweets Underwood who scored a game-high 16 points while Nicole Nesbit added 15 in the loss. 

Hawai'i holds a 20-13 series record over UC Santa Barbara, and the win give UH the split with the Gauchos this season. The 'Bows will stay in California for their final regular season road game at Cal Poly on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 4:00 p.m.