Sugapong, UC San Diego stun Hawai’i in another Henderson heartbreaker

Hard to beat a team three times. 

Even harder to overcome a 27-point deficit. 

The University of Hawai’i women’s basketball team nearly did both on Friday morning, but UC San Diego star Sumayah Sugapong’s off-hand layup with 0.2 seconds left to play instead delivered a stunning 51-49 upset loss to the top-seeded Rainbow Wahine and ended UH’s Big West tournament title hopes in the semifinal round for the second straight year. 

Trailing by 23 at halftime, the Rainbow Wahine allowed 10 total points after the midway break and raced all the way back to knot the game at 49 in the final 90 seconds. Brooklyn Rewers poured in eight of her 10 points in the fourth quarter, leading the charge back on offense for the top seed. 

Hawai’i (22-9), who entered the tournament with a double bye, failed to find the touch early in the game as UC San Diego held all players not named Lily Wahinekapu without a point over the opening 10 minutes of action. The result was a 22-4 lead for the fourth-seeded Tritons after the first quarter, seeing the Rainbow Wahine go 2-of-17 from the floor. 

UCSD guard Parker Montgomery scored 10 of her 16 points in the opening frame, powering the Tritons in an impressive 10 minutes against the regular season conference champions. The fourth-seeded Tritons (19-15) drilled 10-of-18 from the floor in the first period, a rarity against a Rainbow Wahine defense that ranked amongst the best in the nation during the regular season.  

Sugapong ended with a game-high 17 points and was the only Triton to score in all four quarters, including all four points in the fourth quarter for UCSD. The sophomore guard scored seven points in the second quarter, helping the Tritons extend their lead to as many as 27 before the end of the opening 20 minutes. 

“I think they had a great gameplan,” Hawai’i head coach Laura Beeman said of UC San Diego following the loss. “I think their kids came out incredibly loose in the first half and hit shots like crazy.” 

The Rainbow Wahine leaned on experience in the second half, turning off the water on the flowing Triton offense with the elite defense that the group relied upon throughout the season. Allowing six points in the frame, Hawai’i pulled back within 20 and found some life again heading into the final 10 minutes. 

The Hawai’i avalanche hit in the fourth quarter, erupting for 20 points as Wahinekapu drilled a pair of 3-pointers and Rewers worked inside and out, not missing any of her six shots (3 FGA, 3 FTA) to tie the game at 49 with 1:20 left to play. Wahinekapu came up with a block on the other end, giving the Rainbow Wahine a chance to take the lead with less than a minute left in regulation. 

After calling timeout, Hawai’i failed to score as Wahinekapu tried to fit a pass to Imani Perez through a tight window and saw the ball sail out of bounds for a turnover with 10 seconds to play. UC San Diego advanced the ball to the frontcourt with a timeout of its own and cleared out to give Sumayah Sugapong the chance to punch a championship game ticket for the first-time tournament attendee Tritons. 

The sophomore star emphasized her first-team Big West selection with a stunner with 0.2 seconds left, flipping up a layup with her left hand on the right side of the hoop to evade the outstretched arms of 6-foot-5 center Ritorya Tamilo and saving UC San Diego from a 27-point collapse. 

Hawai’i advanced the ball to the frontcourt and had one last try to tie, a lob pass for a tap by Tamilo that was broken up as the Rainbow Wahine watched the dream of returning to the “Big Dance” destroyed in the Big West semifinals again. 

“I want to congratulate [UC San Diego],” Beeman said. “I have not seen too many teams hit shots like that, but just congratulations to them. Tale of two halves, that’s really what it came down to. It came down to one shot at the end – we couldn’t get a stop, they scored.” 

Lily Wahinekapu, who was named the Big West Player of the Year after leading the Rainbow Wahine to the regular season title, paced Hawai’i with 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists. UH struggled shooting all day, particularly from long distance as the Rainbow Wahine connected on just 5-of-27 attempts from beyond the arc. 

UC San Diego advances to Saturday’s Big West championship game against third-seeded UC Davis. The Tritons are looking for the program’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament in the school’s first year of postseason eligibility. 

The year continues for Hawai’i despite the loss, a virtue of winning the Big West’s regular season title. The Rainbow Wahine secured an automatic bid to the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament for the second straight season and await their first-round opponent to be revealed. 

“Unfortunately, when you lose a game like this, it hurts,” Beeman said. “This is not where we want to be sitting, but it will not define this team. We will rally, we have postseason play that we’re still going to be in and hopefully we can continue to do special things together and not have this time as a team end.” 

The WBIT bracket will be revealed at 3 p.m. HT on Sunday, March 16 during the selection show on the NCAA website.