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Bench Celebration
42
UC Irvine Irvine 13-6,7-2 Big West
46
Winner Hawaii Hawaii 13-6,7-2 Big West
UC Irvine Irvine
13-6,7-2 Big West
42
Final
46
Hawaii Hawaii
13-6,7-2 Big West
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
UC Irvine Irvine 11 11 11 9 42
Hawaii Hawaii 5 12 11 18 46

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Rainbow Wahine Earn Hard-Fought 46-42 Victory Over UC Irvine

HONOLULU —  The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team used a strong fourth-quarter effort to push past UC Irvine, 46-42, in front of a raucous season-high crowd of 3,695 Saturday night at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

The atmosphere of  "Beeman's Bigger Bash" helped propel the Rainbow Wahine (13-6, 7-2 Big West) to their seventh straight win and into a three-way tie for first place in the Big West standings along with UCI (13-6, 7-2) and Long Beach State. 
 
After trailing for much of the first three quarters, the 'Bows doubled up the Anteaters 18-9 in the final frame to secure the win and snap UCI's five-game win streak. UH started the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run and held UCI scoreless for nearly a seven-minute stretch to surge ahead, before holding off one last push by the Anteaters. 
Freshman post player Ritorya Tamillo posted 11 points and 11 rebounds in her first career double-double to power the 'Bows. She also swatted away a 3-point attempt in the final seconds for her third block of the night to punctuate the victory. Lily Wahinekapu led UH with a team-high 13 points, while Imani Perez added nine points and tied her career high with 10 rebounds. 

Deja Lee, last season's Big West Player of the Year, led the Anteaters with 13 points. 

The game featured the top two defensive squads in the league with the 'Bows getting the better of the Anteaters. UH shot 30 percent for the game, but limited UCI to just 24 percent (15-of-62). The Rainbow Wahine have now held their last six opponents to 50 points or fewer, while it marked the 15th time in 19 games they held an opponent to under 40 percent shooting.
 
Points were tough to come by from the get-go. UCI started 2 for 14 before hitting the game's first 3-pointer, while UH went scoreless for the final 6:35 of the first quarter.
 
The Anteaters built a 13-5 lead into the second quarter before Perez broke the UH drought with a layup at the 8:05 mark of the period. 

Wahinekapu hit a 3-pointer from the top and drained another from the wing a few moments later to cut the UCI lead to 17-15. The Anteaters answered with a steal and layup by Nikki Tom and a Summah Hanson 3-pointer to extend the margin back to seven. UH's interior passing led to a layup by Mia 'Uhila, who made her second start of the season, and the 'Bows went into halftime trailing 22-17.
 
UH opened the second half with a 6-0 burst sparked by two 'Uhila assists, the first to MeiLani McBee — who played in her 127th career game to pass Amy Atwell for the program record — after chasing down a missed shot. 'Uhila delivered the second on a dish to Perez after pushing deep into the paint. UC Irvine responded with a 7-0 run to go up 29-23.
 
The Anteaters took a 33-28 into the fourth and went up by six on a Summah Hanson free throw 36 seconds into the final quarter. But that's when UH turned the tide. Wahinekapu hit a 3-pointer to ignite the game's decisive 11-0 run. After two Perez free throws, Wahinekapu pushed the pace and fed Perez for a layup to give UH a 35-34 lead with 6:51 left.

UH extended that lead to 39-34 before UCI finally ended its scoring drought on a made free throw with 2:45 left. Wahinekapu converted a steal into a breakaway layup to give UH a 41-35 lead with two minutes left. 
But UCI wouldn't fold. A Lee 3-pointer brought the Anteaters within a point at 43-42 with 30.7 seconds showing. Wahinekapu, however, hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to three points  and the Anteaters failed to convert on their final two possessions to seal their fate. 

The Rainbow Wahine now head to Southern California for a pair of games, beginning with a meeting with UC San Diego on Thursday, Jan. 30. Tipoff is 7:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. HT. 
 
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