SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.— The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team dropped the second of two games against UC Santa Barbara Saturday afternoon at the Thunderdome, 72-50.
 
The Rainbow Wahine (5-6, 4-5) move to 2-2 on their current road trip and have two more to go at Long Beach State set for Feb. 26th and 27th. The Gauchos (3-12, 3-6) picked up their first home win of the season after starting the year 0-8 and handed UH their first loss of 20 more points since Dec. 6th, 2019, at Oregon State.
 
UH led early on with the first basket of the game at 2-0, but a 13-2 in the first quarter giving the home team a lead they wouldn't let go of throughout the afternoon. The first half featured 24 combined fouls called against the two squads, with neither finding an offensive rhythm. The 'Bows struggled from long range, as they didn't hit a three-point bucket in the first 20 minutes but only trailed by six at the halfway point.
 
In the third quarter, the Gauchos pulled away, outscoring the 'Bows 27-6, building a lead and a hole UH couldn't climb out of as fouls and turnovers kept piling up.
 
Freshman guard Daejah Phillips led UH with a team-high 16 points and six rebounds in 31 minutes off the bench. Following a career day for sophomore forward Kasey Neubert on Friday, she answered with a well-rounded performance featuring eight points and eight rebounds.
 
UH will now take a 12-day hiatus with what was initially scheduled as a Friday and Saturday series with CSUN. The Matadors decided to opt-out of the entire year due to COVID-19 before the season started in December.