Rainbow Wahine triumph in clash for Big West supremacy

IRVINE » The UC Irvine women’s basketball team met its match on Thursday night against Hawaii and the Anteaters finished on the short end.

Irvine struggled with its shooting and couldn’t get a defensive stop when it was needed the most, resulting in a 56-49 loss to the Rainbow Wahine in a Big West Conference game at the Bren Center.

Hawaii (7-6, 4-0 Big West) improved to 4-0 in conference play for the first time since the 1997-98 season, when it played in the Western Athletic Conference.

The Anteaters (9-6, 3-2) shot 33.3% from the floor and 3-for-24 from 3-point distance, missing 13 straight at one point.

“We had good looks, we just kind of forced things, really in the second quarter, I thought, and then it kind of bled to the third,” Irvine coach Tamara Inoue said. “We started scoring better, but then we forgot about our defensive side, which I thought we did a really good job in the first half.”

Deja Lee finished with 15 points, 9 assists and 5 steals to lead the Anteaters, but she also struggled from long distance, shooting 1 for 8 from beyond the 3-point arc.

“Deja is just one of those players that just does everything that you need her to do,” Inoue said. “I know she’s not going to be happy about her shooting, but they were good shots. I thought things came to her, but getting nine assists and five steals, that’s really good.”

In a matchup of last season’s regularseason champion (UCI) and Big West Tournament champion (Hawaii), the Anteaters came in leading the conference in scoring defense (55.6), while Hawaii was second (55.8).

The Rainbow Wahine had held their first three Big West opponents to an average of 43.3 points.

Hawaii led 20-18 at the half and the lead was still two points after Irvine guard Diaba Konate made a jumper with 2:55 left in the third quarter, but that was as close as Irvine got.

MeiLani McBee sank a 3-pointer and then was fouled while making another 3-pointer from the opposite side on the next possession. She made the free throw and the lead had quickly swelled to 41-32 with 1:46 left in the third.

Hawaii took the nine-point lead into the fourth quarter and Irvine could get only as close as six points down the stretch.

“I thought they did a good job of defending us,” Inoue said.