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HONOLULU—The University of Hawai`i women's basketball team fought hard all game, but came up short, falling to No. 14 California, 79-72 on the first day of the Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic. Senior Shawna-Lei Kuehu scored a career-high 29 points with a career-high 15 rebounds to lead the Rainbow Wahine with her second double-double in three games. Fellow senior Ashleigh Karaitiana also tallied a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds in Hawai`i's home opener on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Hawai`i fell to 2-1 on the season while California remained undefeated at 3-0.
 
Kuehu was 10-of-23 from the floor and 9-of-14 from the free throw line. The 23 field goal attempts and 14 free throw attempts were also career-highs. She also had two assists two blocked shots and a steal in her stellar performance. Kuehu now has four career double-doubles. Karaitiana shot 5-of-19 with a 3-pointer and hit 3-of-4 technical foul shots late in the game. She dished out three assists and had one steal for the 'Bows. It marked her third career double-double.
 
Senior Morgan Mason also continued her hot start to the season, hitting 3-of-4 shots including a trey for seven points with three steals, but an injury suffered in the first half, kept her out of the game the rest of the way.
 
Hawai`i got off to a quick start, leading by as much as seven points, 16-9 with 12:56 left in the first half. But California would start rolling, first on a 13-to-2 run and then later in the first half on an 18-to-2 run that gave the Golden Bears a 14 point lead from which UH could not recover from. Cal went into halftime with a 43-33 lead. Hawai`i outscored Cal in the paint in the first half 22-to-14 but California took capitalized on UH's miscues, out-scoring the 'Bows 13-to-2 in points off of turnovers. There were six ties and five lead changes in the first half.
 
In the second half, Cal maintained their double-digit lead through the first 15 minutes, but then the Rainbow Wahine started to make an 8-to-2 charge sparked by a 3-pointer by Shawlina Segovia. Hawai`i then cut their deficit to nine on a jumper by Kuehu with 3:26 left in the game and UH trailing 70-61. Later with Hawai`i down by nine and 24-seconds left in the game, the California head coach was called for two technical fouls and was tossed from the game which allowed Karaitiana to make 3-of-4 technical shots with no time coming off the clock and Cal leading 77-70. Kuehu drilled a jumper to bring UH within five points with 11 seconds left in the game, but that would be as close as the 'Bows would come to Cal down the stretch.
 
The 'Bows battled on the boards, tying the Golden Bears 47-47 in rebounds, allowing Cal just 11 offensive boards. Hawai`i outscored Cal, 38-to-28 in the paint for the game and 11-to-8 in second chance points. But Cal outscored UH, 18-to-12 in points off of turnovers and edged out the 'Bows, 18-to-17 in bench scoring.

California's Mikayla Cowling came off the bench to pace her team with 18 points while Brittany Boyd added 17 points.
 
The Rainbow Wahine Classic concludes on Sunday, Nov. 23. In the first game, California takes on Missouri at 4:30 p.m. then Hawai`i will battle UNLV at 7:00 p.m. Missouri defeated UNLV, 79-60 in the tourney opener earlier on Friday.