Out-shoot them from the floor. Make 35% more from 3-point country. Get to the line, and make all the free throws.
“I think we’ve given the rest of the country a template on how to beat UCLA,” Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said.
Unfortunately for UH, though, it was just the second quarter. For those 10 minutes, the hosts outscored the No. 1 Lady Bruins by eight points, and trailed by just one early in the third quarter.
It was all UCLA the rest of the way, though, as it remained undefeated with a 70-49 championship game victory in the American Savings Bank Rainbow Wahine Showdown. A crowd of 2,481 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on Sunday saw Hawaii fall to 5-2 and UCLA climb to 8-0
“(The Wahine) really played with relentless purpose,” Bruins coach Cori Close said. “They played to their identity better than we played to ours. That’s a credit to the players and to the coaching staff in how they got them prepared.”
But, in the beginning, and at the end, UCLA was just too big, too fast, too good.
Kiki Rice scored 21 points and 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts added 18.
Betts dominated from the outset, outscoring UH herself in the first quarter with eight points as UCLA took a 15-7 lead.
But, with Betts in foul trouble, things opened up a bit inside for Hawaii, and Kelsie Imai’s hustle plays off the bench helped the ‘Bows close the gap. Imai had four points, three rebounds and three assists in just 22 minutes of play.
“That’s always my mission. My role on the team is to come in with the energy,” Imai said. “We went into the lockerroom (at halftime) and everybody believed we could win.”
Daejah Phillips closed the score to 32-31 with the first basket of the second half, but the Bruins dominated the rest of the way.
Lily Wahinekapu led the Wahine with 10 points. Phillips scored nine.
Betts scored eight points as UCLA took a 15-7 first-quarter lead.
The Bruins, who were 33 1/2-point favorites heading into the game, scored the first nine points, before UH’s Brooklyn Rewers hit a 3-pointer 3 minutes, 30 seconds into the game.
UCLA dominated the boards, with 44 to 26 for Hawaii.
The visitors did get somewhat nervous at halftime.
“We talked about it a little bit in the locker room,” Betts said. “We just faced a lot of adversity that first half. The refs, big crowd and everyone cheering against us. We just needed to react to it a little bit faster and get to huddles quicker. The second half, we did a much better job of locking into what we needed to do.”
Freshman Ritorya Tamilo did not play for Hawaii because of an undisclosed injury. The 6-foot-5 post came into the game second on the team in scoring and rebounding, and led the Wahine with 11 blocks in the team’s first six games.
“We will be fully loaded in March, hopefully,” Beeman said. “And that will be a different monster.”
Fresno State beat Tennessee-Martin 75-66 in overtime in Sunday’s first game.
Kyle Sakamoto of the Star- Advertiser contributed to this report.