Hawaii pulls past Portland in Bank of Hawaii Classic Finale

HONOLULU – Growing fast and breaking away from old weights.

The University of Hawai’i women’s basketball team remained perfect to begin the 2025-26 season, taking down the University of Portland, 66-61, to win the Bank of Hawaii Classic for the second straight year. Sophomore Ritorya Tamilo matched her career high with 16 points to lead the Rainbow Wahine, going 6-for-8 from the field while knocking down her second collegiate 3-pointer in the first quarter.

Fellow New Zealand product Bailey Flavell added nine points, five rebounds and three assists for UH, knocking down 7-of-8 from the charity stripe and assisting Tamilo in the final minute to give the Rainbow Wahine the lead for good. Tamilo and Flavell were each named to the all-tournament team for their efforts over the weekend with Tamilo taking home Most Valuable Player honors.

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Pilots for UH, delivering the program’s first victory against Portland since 1992.

Imani Perez chipped in eight points, three rebounds and a pair of blocks in the victory, delivering clutch plays on both ends in the fourth quarter to help the Rainbow Wahine turn a six-point deficit into a five-point win.

Portland started quickly, racing out of the gates to a 7-0 lead before Tamilo finally got UH on the board with 4:54 left to play in the opening quarter. The 6-foot-5 center carried the Rainbow Wahine offense early with nine points, ending the first period with a 3-pointer to put UH ahead, 13-11.

The sides traded the lead with a pair of threes to open the second quarter, but the Pilots caught fire from distance and pushed forward with a 25-point explosion in the frame to go into halftime leading by six.

Hawai’i punched back after Portland started fast again in the third quarter, seeing Saniyah Neverson finish through contact and hit the free throw after to pull the Rainbow Wahine within a point with 5:05 left in the frame. Kira-May Filemu pushed the hosts ahead a minute later as she cashed in from the left corner for three, but Pilots forward Florence Dallow responded with a pair of triples to end the period and put UH down 49-48 entering the final 10 minutes.

Portland pushed the lead to six behind a pair of buckets from Rhyan Mogel to begin the fourth quarter, but a technical foul on head coach Michael Meek stopped the momentum cold for the visitors with 8:29 to play.

Flavell hit on 1-of-2 from the line but assisted an Imani Perez 3-pointer moments later to pull UH back within two and return life to the weary Stan Sheriff Center crowd.

After Mogel split a trip to the charity stripe herself to put the Pilots up 56-53, Tee Bond stepped up and drained her first 3-pointer as a Rainbow Wahine to tie the game with 5:13 remaining.

Portland was able to reclaim the lead with under two minutes left after Nicole Rodriguez went 2-for-2 at the line, but a third-chance layup for Tamilo on the next possession tied the game at 60 with 1:28 to go.

Just as it had since the technical foul to begin the quarter, the UH defense suffocated the Pilots and forced up a miss from Rodriguez to keep it tied. Hawai’i wasted no time getting down the floor, seeing Flavell break down the defense and dish off a dime to a wide-open Tamilo for the go-ahead basket with 46 seconds to play.

With the lead in hand, UH got two more stops defensively and tacked on a few free throws for good measure to secure the first set of hardware as a group with a 66-61 win over Portland. The defense was stellar to close for Hawai’i, holding the Pilots without a made field goal over the final 8:41 of regulation.

It marked the second consecutive season that the Rainbow Wahine won the Bank of Hawaii Classic and the first time the program has started a year 4-0 since the 2000-01 campaign.

Rhyan Mogel led Portland with 16 points, knocking down 5-of-8 shots from the floor and going a perfect 3-for-3 from long range. Nicole Rodriguez added 13 points on 3-of-12 shooting from distance while Dyani Ananiev scored 13 points and was the Pilots’ lone representative on the all-tournament team.

Hawai’i returns to action on Friday, hosting Vermont for the first day of the American Savings Bank Rainbow Wahine Showdown. Santa Clara and Lindenwood are the other two participants in the three-day round-robin tournament that runs from November 28-30 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.