Box Score   |  Box Score (html)  |  Photo Gallery

HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team closed out the 2014 calendar year with a 76-68 win over Hawai'i Pacific. Shawna-Lei Kuehu finished one rebound shy of a double-double, leading all players with 26 points and nine rebounds. Destiny King added 13 points and Sarah Toeaina—in her first career start—scored 10 on Wednesday afternoon in the Stan Sheriff Center. Hawai'i improved to 7-5 overall while in-state rival HPU fell to 9-3.
 
For Kuehu, it was the third time this season that she has poured in more than 20 points. She shot 9-of-14 from the floor and 8-of-10 from the free throw line. Kuehu also recorded a team-high four assists with two steals and a blocked shot.
 
King shot 6-of-16 in field goals and was 1-of-3 in free throws. She pulled down eight rebounds with an assist and a steal. Toeaina shot an efficient 4-of-6  and was 2-of-3 from the charity stripe. She corralled six rebounds and had a steal.
 
The Rainbow Wahine struggled mightily on offense early in the first half, starting the game shooting 22% (4-of-18) from the floor through the first 14 minutes. UH's offensive woes led to the Sharks building their lead to as much as nine points with 6:29 left in the half. But, Toeaina made a put-back shot with 6:11 on the clock that would spark the 'Bows. Hawai'i roared back to finish the half strong, hitting 9 of their last 12 shots (75%) on an 18-to-8 run to take a 38-35 lead into halftime. The first half saw seven lead changes and five ties between the two squads.
 
In the second half. UH continued right where the left off starting with a 10-to-3 run for a 10 point lead in the first four minutes. Hawai'i Pacific however, kept battling and back-to-back 3-pointers cut UH's lead to just two points (48-46) with 14:46 left in the game. But that would be as close as the Sharks would get as UH started to pull away, going up by as many as 13 points four times.
 
Hawai'i ended up shooting 50.0% in field goals for the game (27-for-54) while going 22-for-34 (64.7%) in free throws. UH outscored the Sharks 52-to-30 in the paint and 26-to-23 in points off of turnovers. Hawai'i edged HPU on the boards, 39-to-37 and 21-to-12 in bench scored. Both teams recorded 18 turnovers.

Ashleigh Karaitiana saw her streak of double-digit point games come to an end as she scored two points against HPU. She was the only Rainbow Wahine to score at least 10 points in the first 11 games.

Freshman Megan Huff saw her first action as a Rainbow Wahine basketball player. She played seven minutes in the second half and was 0-for2 shooting with a rebounds.Huff completed her first season as a middle hitter with the women's volleyball team earlier this month. 
 
HPU had four players score in double-figures—Veanne Navarro led the team with 18 points; Breanna Mackenzie added 16 while Chenise Peone scored 13 points and Morganne Comstock chipped in with 11. Kylie Herta had a game-high seven assists and three Sharks pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Hawai'i will play their first game of 2015 this Friday, January 2 against UNC Greensboro at 5:00 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.