UCLA takes down Hawai’i in Rainbow Wahine Showdown title game

HONOLULU – To the next. 

The University of Hawai’i women’s basketball team fell to No. 1 UCLA in the 2024 American Savings Bank Rainbow Wahine Showdown championship game on Sunday, 70-49. It snapped a 15-game home winning streak for UH, marking the first time Laura Beeman’s team had fallen inside the Stan Sheriff Center in over a year. 

Hawai’i (5-2) was without the services of freshman center Ritorya Tamilo for the first time this season while sophomore guard Jovi Lefotu missed her third straight game. Brooklyn Rewers made her second start of the year and first since the season-opener at Portland in place of Tamilo, being tasked with a defensive assignment of UCLA All-American center Lauren Betts. 

The Bruins (8-0) scored the game’s first nine points before Rewers finally got the scoring started for the Rainbow Wahine with a three with 6:31 left in the opening period. Hawai’i continued to struggle offensively, hitting only one more shot from the floor and getting a pair of free throws from Rewers to head into the quarter break down, 18-7. 

Betts picked up her second foul with 7:35 to play in the first half, sending the 6-foot-7 center to the bench with UCLA still leading by 11. A continued defensive effort and extra hustle, sparked by three first-half blocks by freshman Danijela Kujovic and the unrelenting playstyle of Kelsie Imai, helped Hawai’i remain close as the team worked through the offensive struggles. 

“That’s what the number one team in the country is supposed to do, to come out and punch and I thought we took their punch pretty well,” Beeman said postgame. 

Helped by the effort, defense and three 3-pointers in the frame, including back-to-back hits by Jade Peacock and MeiLani McBee in the final two minutes, the Rainbow Wahine closed within three points of the top-ranked Bruins by halftime. In all, Hawai’i totaled five blocks while holding UCLA to 32 points in the first 20 minutes, tied for the lowest first half scoring output all season for the Bruins. 

“I thought that first half was very good,” Beeman reflected. “And I still think we can play better basketball.” 

Daejah Phillips got the action started out of the break, rolling in a layup over the front of the rim to bring the Rainbow Wahine within one before forcing UCLA into a shot clock violation. The Bruins returned the favor on the next possession, forcing a shot clock violation against UH that would ultimately spark a 9-0 run for the nation’s top-ranked team to go back up double digits.  

Lily Wahinekapu ended the three-minute scoring drought for Hawai’i with her first points of the afternoon, drilling a three to make it a 41-34 game with 5:39 left to play in the third quarter. UCLA punched back, rattling off 13 of the next 14 points to take a commanding 19-point lead just before the end of the period. 

“I think that second quarter was about energy, was about our communication. That’s something we have struggled with [and] the third quarter, we got quiet and quiet teams don’t win,” said Beeman of the struggles. 

While Hawai’i’s offense never truly turned on in the final quarter (3-14 FG), the defense bounced back to hold the Bruins to 27% shooting from the floor in the final 10 minutes. UCLA cashed in on 8-of-10 chances from the foul line in the fourth, doubled-up Hawai’i on the glass, 14-7, and ultimately won the frame by just four points as the Bruins stayed unbeaten through non-conference play with a 70-49 decision over the Rainbow Wahine. 

Kiki Rice led the way for UCLA, scoring a game-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting (5-of-5 FT) on her way to being selected to the all-tournament team. Lauren Betts finished the day with 18 points and a season-low three rebounds for the Bruins but was still selected as the tournament MVP after the 6-foot-7 star averaged 18.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game and led her team to a perfect 3-0 weekend with an average margin of victory of 45.7 points. 

Lily Wahinekapu led Hawai’i with 10 points, all coming after halftime, while Brooklyn Rewers chipped in eight points, six rebounds and a pair of blocks in 28 minutes of work. Daejah Phillips added nine points while Kelsie Imai hustled her way to four points, three rebounds (all offensive) and three assists off the bench for Hawai’i. 

“I thought overall, it was a fantastic weekend for this group,” Beeman said Sunday. “To go 2-1 and to play the way we did on Friday and Saturday, which we did not have our best basketball but found a way to win, [we are] getting better. We got some of our youth some experience that we promised them, and then to show up today and play the number one team in the country the way we did, I could not be more proud of this group.” 

Wahinekapu and Ritorya Tamilo were selected to the all-tournament team for the Rainbow Wahine, who will turn around for a rare December conference game against Long Beach State on Saturday. It will be the sixth game of a 7-game homestand for Hawai’i before wrapping up the non-conference schedule on the continent in the San Diego Invitational. 

“We’re not going backwards from here,” Beeman vowed. “[The players] now know that.”