Rainbow Wahine move into first-place tie with win

Daejah Phillips scored 11 of her season-high 22 points in the fourth quarter and a short-handed Hawaii women’s basketball team held off Cal State Fullerton 66-61 tonight.

A crowd of 851 held their breaths in the final moments as Hawaii missed five of six free throws during a stretch in the final two minutes at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Lily Wahinekapu, who missed four in a row, sunk both with 23 seconds remaining to put UH ahead 62-59.

Cal State Fullerton guard Gabi Vidmar, the team’s leading scorer, had an open 3 to tie it but came up short.

MeiLani McBee grabbed the rebound and made two free throws to help Hawaii (11-8, 8-2 Big West) move into a first-place tie with UC Irvine (14-6, 8-2) heading into Saturday’s home game against the Anteaters.

Hawaii played without its top two post players, as Brooklyn Rewers missed her fifth straight game with an injury and Imani Perez was out due to a personal matter.

Cal State Fullerton forward Ashlee Lewis took advantage inside with a game-high 25 points and 13 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough for the Titans (7-13, 3-7), who got a jumper from Fujika Nimmo to drop with 10 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to three.

Wahinekapu finished with 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Jacque David played six minutes starting her first game in place of Perez and made two 3-pointers.

Hawaii has won 10 straight against Cal State Fullerton and 14 in a row at home dating back to 1995.