HENDERSON, Nev. — As the saying goes in college basketball, it is difficult to defeat a team three times.
Beating a team four times is apparently even tougher.
That was the task on the table for the Hawaii women’s basketball team in its Big West tournament opener against Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday. The top-seeded and heavily favored Rainbow Wahine, who comfortably defeated the Roadrunners three times during the regular season, were off the mark all game and had to sweat out a final defensive possession in a 48-47 win over the ninth-seeded upstart.
UH could not buy a basket in its debut at Dollar Loan Center and had difficulties keeping a handle on the ball, resulting in a season scoring low. But finally, forward Daejah Phillips, who was playing in front of friends and family from her nearby hometown of Las Vegas, had the go-ahead bucket with 1:12 remaining. It was one of only two field goals for the Wahine in 10 attempts in the final period.
“We came ready to play, but we had some slip-ups. We fought back. Took punches. Gave punches. And came back and got the W,” said Phillips, one of several freshmen or redshirt freshmen to carry the load on a day that UH’s sixth-year senior and Big West Player of the Year, Amy Atwell, finished with one of her worst outings – 1-for-7 shooting for four points.
Laura Beeman’s program remained on its feet to win a Big West tournament game for the fourth straight year, and UH (18-9) won for the 11th time in 12 games to remain alive in its bid for its first tournament title and NCAA tournament appearance since 2016.
“There’s not a kid in the locker room that’s ever been a No. 1 (seed) in the tournament,” Beeman said. “We knew this was going to be a very, very difficult game, maybe the hardest game for us. These kids don’t know what they don’t know, and today showed it a little bit.”
The Wahine must now contend with UC Riverside, a winner of eight straight games. The Highlanders ousted UC Santa Barbara, 46-42, in a rock fight between 4 and 5 seeds.
UH defeated UCR by 19 in the teams’ lone regular-season meeting on Feb. 5. But as Wednesday showed, that means little come tournament time.
UH led CSUB (5-20) for the entirety of the first three quarters, but never comfortably, as the Roadrunners looked to slow the pace and play a rugged, relentless brand of ball. The teams' shooting percentages were in the low 30s.
Bakersfield bided its time, then went on a 10-0 run to open the fourth quarter to go from down six to up four. UH had to rally from a 45-40 deficit with 3:55 to play, when Miracle Saxon made a wide-open layup when the Wahine overcommitted on a steal attempt.
“I called a timeout to slow the momentum down because we knew they were capable of going on a pretty big run,” Beeman said. “I never lost faith in our kids. We were just going to have to find a way to win that ball game, because that was a tough game. We did not perform well, based on what Bakersfield (did), and based on us being tight.”
UH’s young supporting cast rose to the occasion. True freshman Jacque David (six points, seven rebounds) stuck a floater from the baseline and from there UH was the beneficiary of some whistles, allowing third-year freshman Olivia Davies and David to take the lead back with four straight free throws.
“It just felt like it wasn’t ever in our favor, like we had to work extra hard for every possession, everything that we were doing,” said Davies, who scored a team-high 11 points with a 7-for-10 effort at the line. “So that was frustrating, but that wasn’t something that we couldn’t overcome. This is tournament basketball, so it’s going to be frustrating. It’s going to be tough.”
Bakersfield’s top player, Jayden Eggleston, put the Runners ahead for the last time on a runner before Phillips responded on the next possession.
The Runners got three attempts at the last word, including two shots on their final offensive possession. Eggleston missed a layup but CSUB had one last chance on a baseline out of bounds play with 8.7 seconds left.
Center Vanessa Austin, who had helped key the Runners’ comeback, took a post pass and missed a right-handed leaner in the lane. The ball pinballed around in the battle for the rebound. Bakersfield got it back but its last look was off and came after the horn. There appeared to be some contact on the play that was not called.
Roadrunners coach Greg McCall, a friendly rival of Beeman’s from their junior college coaching days, barked at the officials before receiving a hug from Beeman.
“She’s a great coach. She did a good job (dealing) with our players this year. I’m expecting them to continue to push forward,” McCall said. “I probably gave the recipe to the other teams on how to be able to guard and defend them. We’ll see how it goes; I’m pretty sure she’ll make some adjustments herself.”
McCall credited Eggleston for playing all 40 minutes and accepting the challenge of guarding Atwell, who scored the game’s first basket on a breakaway layup but was silent from the field afterward. That was in stark contrast to Atwell’s career-best 33-point outing against the Runners on Jan. 22. Eggleston, meanwhile, had game-high honors Wednesday with 18 points on 7-for-18 shooting.
Bakersfield was playing a day after it went to overtime against Cal State Northridge and won by a point. McCall was asked if he felt the best team won Wednesday.
“I’ll tell you the answer Laura Beeman told me after the game,” McCall said with a chuckle. “She said their team didn’t deserve to win that game. We deserved to win that game. That’s the answer she gave me, so I’m going to go with (that). With every ounce of blood in my body I believe that.”
The Runners succeeded in turning it into an ugly game early. The teams combined for 21 turnovers in the first half, but neither side could capitalize as there were only two points scored off of the giveaways between them. UH jumped out to a 10-point lead late in the first quarter but by halftime, it was down to five.
Only a layup and 3-pointer by Wahine guard Nae Nae Calhoun on consecutive possessions in the third quarter allowed UH to maintain a lead going to the fourth.
The teams were playing for a highly unusual fourth time in the season because McCall and Beeman agreed to play an extra game in Honolulu in January to help make up for several contests against other teams that were canceled due to pandemic health protocols.
UH had won the three previous meetings comfortably, by 17, seven and 14 points.
UH announced its presence at Dollar Loan Center when its band played Hawai‘i Pono‘i following the national anthem, to the surprise of some arena personnel and other spectators. The roughly 200 UH fans remained standing.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Keep following Spectrum News this week for Brian McInnis’ in-person coverage of the University of Hawaii men’s and women’s basketball teams at the Big West tournament in Henderson, Nevada.