HONOLULU — No. 1 UCLA demolished opponents by an average of 58 points over the first two days of the American Savings Bank Rainbow Wahine Showdown.
Hawaii served notice early on in Sunday's de facto tournament championship game that Day 3 would not go quite as smoothly for the Bruins.
A crowd of 1,669 (2,481 tickets issued) saw host Hawaii stand up to the Big Ten team for as long as they could — basically playing up and up with the much bigger team in the first half — before falling 70-49 in the finale of the four-team tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center on Sunday afternoon.
[Note: See below for more photos of UCLA-Hawaii.]
"That’s what the No. 1 team in the country is supposed to do, is come out and punch," UH coach Laura Beeman said. "I thought we took the punch pretty well.
"These kids wanted this game. … They want to play the best."
UCLA’s 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts proved too much to handle on the low block as she powered in 18 points en route to tournament MVP honors, while guard Kiki Rice supplied 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting as the Bruins (8-0) maintained their unbeaten start a week after knocking off previous No. 1 South Carolina.
Point guard Lily Wahinekapu led UH (5-2) with 10 points while Daejah Phillips scored nine. Center Brooklyn Rewers, making a start in place of inactive freshman Ritorya Tamilo, scored eight, as did wing MeiLani McBee.
The 6-4 Rewers tried to hold her ground as best she could against Betts. Beeman credited her with a "fabulous" job on the person she considers the best post player in the country. Betts shot 6-for-12 from the field and had just three rebounds after dominating the the glass against Fresno State and Tennessee-Martin on Friday and Saturday.
"I just went in the game with a lot of confidence, because all my teammates and coaches have my back and they trust that I was able to guard her and stop her," Rewers said. "I didn’t let her overpower me, I guess."
Wahinekapu and Tamilo were named to the all-tournament team along with Betts, Rice and Gabriela Jaquez for UCLA and Mia Jacobs for Fresno State.
UH gave up the first nine points of the game and trailed 18-7 after a quarter as it repeatedly flung difficult 3-pointers at the end of the shot clock. But senior guard Kelsie Imai came off the bench and energized the Wahine in the second period with a quicker pace and her hustle plays that included two offensive rebounds. Combined with foul trouble on Betts, it allowed UH to outscore UCLA 22-14 in the period.
Imai said afterward she sees it as her mission to bring energy, regardless of the caliber of opponent. She found Rebecca Moors and MeiLani McBee for 3-pointers and the Wahine rallied to within 32-29 at intermission. Freshman forward Danijela Kujovic blocked four shots, all in the half.
It was a marked improvement over UH's anemic first halves against Fresno State and Tennessee-Martin the first two days of the tournament.
"I think the biggest thing was, we went in the locker room (at half) and everybody believed we could win that game," Imai said. "That’s important for a team to have."
Phillips sank a layup to get her team within a point to open the second half, but the Bruins countered with an 11-0 run.
Betts said her team was impacted by the vocal UH crowd in the first half. At halftime, Bruins coach Cori Close reminded her that no guard has beaten her to the rim on switches all season with her lateral quickness, so she should range out farther to contest UH's outside shots.
"The second half we did a much better job of just locking into what we needed to do," Betts said.
Imai was unable to ignite the same spark in the third and the Bruins won the period 24-10 to take a 17-point lead into the fourth. Wahinekapu got it down to 15 with a 3-pointer followed by another jumper with 8:16 left, but UH got no closer.
Beeman said the communication that defined her team in the second quarter went quiet in the third.
"Quiet teams don’t win," she said.
Close said her team watched film from last December's meeting between the teams at Pauley Pavilion, a 39-point Bruin blowout, and she was also familiar with Beeman's staff from UCLA's first-round win over UH in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, plus another meeting in Los Angeles in December 2016. Close noted Sunday was her team's poorest shooting performance of the season (42.1% from the field, 18.8% on 3-pointers).
"I have a lot of respect for Laura and the job she does with this program," Close said. "Hawaii is really lucky to have her leading them."
UH was held to a season-low 26.4% from the field as its 15-game home winning streak was snapped.
On UH's rally in the second, Close said, "I just think they played with relentless purpose. They played to their identity better than we played to ours, and that’s a credit to the players and the coaching staff in how they got them prepared."
The Wahine dropped to 1-10 all-time against the Bruins. It was the teams' first meeting at the Sheriff Center since UH's only win in the series, 70-66, in the 2002-03 season opener.
UH next hosts Long Beach State (3-3) on Saturday in an earlier-than-usual Big West opener.
"I promise you, we will be ready for Long Beach on Saturday," Beeman said.
Sunday's game was the last UH athletic event for Athletic Director Craig Angelos in that job capacity. UH President David Lassner announced Angelos’ firing “for performance” on Nov. 20 and that Dec. 1 would be his last official day, although Angelos will be paid for three months of work while technically on leave.
Angelos, who sat behind the Diamond Head basket for the game, declined an interview with Spectrum News.
Fresno State beat Tennessee-Martin 75-66 in overtime in the first game Sunday.
Note: This story was updated with details and quotes.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.