Rainbow Wahine Win 14th In A Row

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARADVERTISER.COM

Hawaii’s Jovi Lefotu was up against UC San Diego’s Gracie Gallegos.

Lily Wahinekapu scored a game-high 13 points and MeiLani McBee added 11 points, all in the second quarter, to lead the Hawaii women’s basketball team to a 49-44 win over UC San Diego tonight.

A SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 2,160 watched the Rainbow Wahine (20-6, 14-2 Big West) extend their winning streak to 14 games led by a defensive effort that held the Tritons (14-14, 10-6) to 20 points fewer than their season average.

The Tritons had 23 points at the 8-minute mark of the fourth quarter and missed 45 of their first 54 shots from the floor.

Despite all of that, UCSD closed to within six points at 44-38 with 2:18 remaining on a Parker Montgomery jumper in the paint off a fast break.

Hawaii’s 21st turnover gave UCSD a look at a 3 with less than two minutes remaining to make it a one-possession game but it didn’t fall.

McBee made three consecutive 3-pointers to give her 200 for her career, becoming the second UH player to reach that mark. She’s five away from tying Amy Atwell’s program record of 205 3’s made.

Sumayah Sugapong, the Tritons’ leading scorer at 14.4 points per game, finished with 12 points and six turnovers on 5-for-18 shooting before fouling out with less than two minutes remaining.

The Tritons had won four of five since losing to Hawaii by two points in overtime in La Jolla, Calif. It was the closest any team has come to beating the Rainbow Wahine during their winning streak.

Hawaii goes back on the road starting Thursday at UC Riverside.

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