SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team closed its season-opening Northern California road trip with a 62-51 loss to Santa Clara on Saturday at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif.
Coming off an 87-40 loss at No. 13/15 Stanford on Wednesday, the shorthanded Rainbow Wahine (0-2) trailed Santa Clara 24-10 after the first quarter, closed to within four in the second period, and trailed by five with 3:35 left in regulation. But the host Broncos (2-1) answered each UH charge to win their home opener.
UH junior forward
Brooklyn Rewers posted her first career double-double with career highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds and had three steals off the bench. Guard
MeiLani McBee drained four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points and sophomore forward
Imani Perez hit two 3-pointers in a nine-point performance.
UH and Santa Clara ended the game shooting close to 40% from the field. But the Rainbow Wahine were hampered by 22 turnovers, nine coming in the first quarter, and Santa Clara finished the game with a 28-8 advantage in points off of turnovers.
Santa Clara guard Tess Heal led three Broncos in double figures with 16 points. Guard Lara Edmanson added 13 and Marya Hudgins had 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
With All-Big West point guard
Lily Wahinekapu sidelined, UH took its lone lead of the game when Perez hit a 3-pointer 1:04 into the contest. But Santa Clara shot 7-for-12 from the field and 9-for-9 from the free-throw line in the first quarter and closed the period with a 10-0 run. Santa Clara converted UH turnovers into 13 points in the quarter.
The 'Bows cut the turnover total to three in the second quarter and chopped into the Santa Clara lead with a 10-0 run. Rewers accounted for seven points in the surge with two free throws, a 3-pointer and a jumper in the post. The UH defense held Santa Clara to two points over the first 8:20 of the quarter and the 'Bows twice closed to within four — at 26-22 on a Rewers jumper in the paint and 28-24 on
Kelsie Imai's driving layup — before Santa Clara took a 30-24 lead into halftime.
Santa Clara extended the lead to 11 in the third quarter and a McBee 3-pointer cut the UH deficit to seven with 2:03 left in the period and the Broncos led 43-35 going into the final period.
McBee scored eight points in the fourth quarter with her final 3-pointer closing the gap to 52-47 with 3:35 remaining. But Olivia Pollerd countered with a 3 to spark a 7-0 Santa Clara run and the Broncos pulled away from the free-throw line.
The Rainbow Wahine return to Mānoa to open a six-game homestand with the Bank of Hawai'i Classic at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. They'll face San Francisco in their home opener on Nov. 17 and take on Idaho on Nov. 19.
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