LONG BEACH, Calif. — A career day for guard Daejah Phillips helped power the University of Hawai'i women's basketball team to an 80-68 win over Long Beach State on Saturday at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.
 
Phillips scored 22 of her career-high 29 points in the second half and shot 12 for 14 from the field overall to help the Rainbow Wahine (16-9, 13-3 Big West) claim sole possession of first place in the conference race. 
 
UH forward Imani Perez finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists. MeiLani McBee had nine points with three 3-pointers and moved into third place in program history with 145 career 3-pointers. Guards Lily Wahinekapu and Kelsie Imai had six assists each in UH's highest scoring game of the season.
 
All eight UH players who saw game action scored at least four points and had two rebounds and seven had at least one assist. The Rainbow Wahine shot a season-high 54.1% from the field and distributed 22 assists, also a season best, on 33 made field goals.
 
After going into halftime with seven points, Phillips hit her first nine shots of the second half and went 6 for 7 from the field in a 16-point fourth quarter outburst. She hit her lone 3-point attempt of the game and went 4 for 5 from the free-throw line. Her 12 made field goals also marked a career high and her shooting percentage (85.7%) came up just short of the UH single-game record set on Jan. 4, 1998 when Raylene Howard went 13 for 14 against Fresno State.

A week after passing the 1,000-point mark for her career, Phillips jumped into 21st place in program history with her performance on Saturday pushing her career total to 1,041.
 
UH entered the day tied with UC Irvine for first place in the conference, but the Anteaters dropped a game back with a 69-65 loss to UC San Diego in overtime on Saturday.
 
UH freshman Jade Peacock made her first career start and opened the scoring on the game's opening possession with a drive for a layup. UH went on a 15-3 run that included 3-pointers from McBee and Perez and the 'Bows led 19-6 on Peacock's second layup of the quarter.
 
LBSU shot 3 for 18 in the first quarter. but scored the final five points of the period and forced five UH turnovers in the first 3:30 of the second quarter and closed to 24-20. Jacque David scored on a putback and came up with a steal that led to Ashley Thoms' breakaway layup.  Perez scored twice in the final minute and her layup off an assist from David sent UH into halftime with a 35-28 lead.  
 
UH opened up a double-digit lead early in the third quarter and LBSU twice hit 3-pointers to close to within eight. Phillips scored on layups to push the lead back to 12 and David hit a 3-pointer to give UH a 49-36 lead. The 'Bows led by at least 12 the rest of the way with Phillips taking over in a fourth-quarter shootout in which both teams scored 27 points. UH shot 10 for 14 in the fourth quarter while LBSU went 11 for 16.

Cheyenne Givens led five LBSU players in double figures with 14 points and the Beach (11-15, 6-10) saw a three-game winning streak end.
 
UH opens its final homestand of the season against UC Davis on Feb. 29 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The 'Bows face UC Riverside in their home finale on March 2 and will honor Thoms and Olivia Davies in the Senior Night ceremony.