LONG BEACH, Calif. — The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team capped a remarkable run to close the regular season with a 74-39 rout of Long Beach State on Saturday at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid.
In their final regular-season game as a Big West member, the Rainbow Wahine (20-10, 14-6 Big West) won their eighth straight game and completed a 14-1 surge over the final eight weeks of the schedule. Saturday's win secured the program's 19
th 20-win season, the sixth under head coach
Laura Beeman and the fourth in the last five years.
UH will take its hot streak on to Las Vegas in advance of the Credit Union 1 Big West Women's Basketball Championship in Henderson, Nev. The Rainbow Wahine will be the fourth seed in the eight-team bracket and will have a bye into Thursday's quarterfinal round at Lee's Family Forum. UH will face the winner of the first-round game between fifth-seeded Cal State Fullerton and eight-seed CSUN at noon Pacific Time (9 a.m. Hawai'i Time).
Coming off a 33-point win at UC Riverside on Thursday, the 'Bows bolted out to a 22-5 lead in the first quarter of Saturday's game on their way to posting UH's widest margin of victory in the all-time series with Long Beach State. The 35-point margin also tied for the seventh largest in a road win in program history.
Freshman guard
Keiara Curtis led the 'Bows with 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting with two 3-pointers and four assists.
Saniyah Neverson continued her efficient shooting with 15 points in a 7-for-10 performance from the field. Neverson also had two blocks and a career-high five steals on the defensive end. Fellow senior
Imani Perez filled the stat sheet with 13 points, going 5 for 6 from the field, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
As a team, UH hit eight 3-pointers and built a 46-16 advantage in the paint while outrebounding the Beach (5-25, 4-16) 48-21.
Perez raised her career blocked shots total to 127 to take sole possession of sixth place on UH's all-time chart and her 48 blocks this season is tied for the eighth highest single-season total in program history.
After Long Beach State took a 3-2 lead, Perez hit two 3-pointers and had eight points in a 10-0 UH run in the opening period to help the 'Bows open up a 12-3 lead. Long Beach State started 1 for 13 and UH's run reached to 17-0 when Neverson drained a 3-pointer.
Izzy Forsyth drained UH's fourth 3-pointer of the first quarter and the 'Bows led 22-5 after the first 10 minutes.
The 'Bows went up 20 when Forsyth hit another 3-pointer early in the second quarter. UH's lead fluctuated between 18 and 22 for the remainder of the half and the 'Bows led 35-13 when
Jovi Lefotu scored on a drive just before the buzzer.
Curtis opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer and
Rebecca Moors drained another just before the buzzer to send UH into the fourth period with a 55-30 cushion. The 'Bows led by as many as 37 in the final period and freshman
Fiamma Serra recorded the final bucket of the regular season.
The Rainbow Wahine will remain on the continent and continue on to Nevada for the conference tournament. UH split the regular-season series with Cal State Fullerton and swept its meetings with CSUN. The winner of the quarterfinal advances to face top-seeded UC Irvine in the semifinals on Friday, March 13.
#HawaiiWBB
