HONOLULU— The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team took care of business Thursday night inside SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center with a convincing 69-52 victory over CSU Bakersfield.
 
The Rainbow Wahine (6-7, 2-1) have won three of their last four, all against conference opponents. The first of the two-game series with CSUB will count towards their overall record and not the Big West Conference record. The Roadrunners (1-9, 0-1) had their losing streak extended to nine games, dating back to their lone win of the season on November 9th against Bethesda.
 
The first five minutes of the game served as a reset for the 'Bows, trailing 5-3 but after head coach Laura Beeman went to the bench, UH woke up. Led by back-to-back possessions with freshman forwards Jacque David and Meilani McBee hitting three-point buckets, the home squad put together a 13-2 run to end the frame up 16-10.
 
UH extended the aggressive play into the second quarter with a 19-4 run going from the 10-minute mark to the media timeout. Freshman forward Daejah Phillips highlighted the first half off bench with seven points, seven rebounds, and three assists as UH took a 38-19 advantage.
 
CSUB put together a strong third frame pulling within 13 points at 50-37 at the later end of the quarter, but weren't able to get the game within single digits in the final 20 minutes.
 
Phillips paced the 'Bows  with 16 points and nine rebounds, while adding a season-high  five assists to her stat line. Graduate forward Amy Atwell saw her 10-game streak of double-digits points come to end, finishing with nine points and six rebounds. She is now 29 points away from becoming the 23rd member of the Rainbow Wahine 1,000 point club.
 
UH showed its depth throughout the evening, finishing with a season-high 44 points from the bench. All available players saw action for the 'Bows with all but one finding their way into the scoring column. The lone player who did not score was freshman walk-on Hallie Birdsong who saw her first action of the season, accumulating three minutes of play.
 
The 'Bows and Roadrunners will go at it in round two on Saturday, and the second matchup will count towards the Big West Conference standings. Tip-off is slated for 7p.m. HT.