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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.—The University of Hawai`i women's basketball team (14-12, 10-5 Big West) battled hard, but fell just short at Cal Poly, 47-43, dropping them into second place in the Big West Conference. Kamilah Martin notched her 11<sup>th</sup> double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Shawna-Lei Kuehu added 10 points for the Rainbow Wahine. The loss drops the 'Bows into second place in conference while the Mustangs pushed ahead of UH by a half game with a 10-4 conference record..
 
The game was a tale of two very different halves. Hawai`i struggled on both offense and defense and went into halftime down, 28-15. UH shot just 19% from the floor on 4-of-21 shooting while Cal Poly (16-9 overall) hit on 12-of-24 shots. The Mustangs scored the first three baskets of the game, all chipshots by Molly Schlemer. Schlemer went on to scorch UH for 13 points in the first half alone. Cal Poly held a comfortable double-digit lead for much of the half. Martin had a team-high six rebounds but was 3-of-6 from the free throw line for her only points of the half. UH was led by Sydney Haydel and Destiny King who both had four points each.
 
But in the second half, the 'Bows battled their way back into the game. At the 12:36 mark, Cal Poly's Schlemer banked a bucket in to give the home team a 13 point lead at 36-23. From that point forward, UH started to turn the tide on defense and started to move the ball around better on offense to getting good looks at the basket en route to erasing their deficit with a quick, 16-2 run that was fueled by UH's defense forcing five turnovers and grabbing four defensive boards off of Cal Poly one-shot possessions.

Kuehu came through scoring six of her 10 points during that span and Martin added a pair of buckets on the epic run. Monica DeAngelis drove for a layup with 7:54 left to trail by one point at 38-37. Kuehu then stole the ball and Haydel grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed shot attempt and was fouled. She calmly sank both free throws to tie and then take the lead for the first time in the game with 7:14 on the clock. Cal Poly's Jonae Ervin made a layup to give Cal Poly a one-point lead, 40-39 but Kuehu answered right back, making an off-balance jumper that see-sawed UH back into the lead, 41-40. Then, CP's Ariana Elegado responded, hitting a jumpshot in the lane to re-take the lead, 42-41 with 3:59 left. After a couple of unsuccessful possessions on both sides, Stephanie Ricketts was fouled going up after securing an offensive rebound. Ricketts—who came in off the bench and played 21 minutes solid minutes neutralizing Cal Poly's Schlemer in the post—then drilled both of her pressure-filled two free throws to give UH a 43-42 lead. But Cal Poly's Elegada made a trey as the shot clock ticked down to give the Mustangs a 45-43 lead with 1:54 left. UH had one turnover and missed two shots, but were still down just two points. But Schlemer made a game-sealing layup as the shot clock expired to give Cal Poly a 47-43 lead with eight seconds left on the clock.­­

In the second half, Hawai`i out-scored Cal Poly, 28-19 and also out-scored them in the paint, 12-to-10; in points off of turnovers 10-to-1; and in bench scoring 10-to-0.
 
The Rainbow Wahine held the Mustangs to just 2-for-11 from beyond the arch but allowed 30 points in he paint while scoring just 14 of their own. The two teams were tied with 30 rebounds apiece, but UH held the advantage in points off of turnovers 12-to-6, second chance points 14-to-8 and in points off the bench, 17-to-4. The 'Bows also did much better from the charity stripe, hitting 77% (17-of-22) while Cal Poly was just 7-of-13 in free throws.
 
Martin's 11 points came on 2-for-8 field goals and 7-of-10 shooting from the free throw line. Her 10 rebounds tonight pushed her career rebound total to 907. She is only the second UH player to ever hit 900 rebounds in their career. She also had three assists in the game and one steal. Kuehu made 5-of-9 shots and added four rebounds and two steals.
 
Hawai`i went 5-4 in regular season conference road games this year. UH returns to close the regular with three straight home games, starting with Cal State Northridge on Saturday, March 2 at 5:00 p.m. as the first game in a doubleheader with the UH men's team.