Rainbow Wahine back in first after beating UC Irvine

Hawaii regained first place in the Big West women’s basketball standings with a 67-57 victory over UC Irvine at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center today.

The Wahine improved to 9-3 in the conference and 13-9 overall, while the Anteaters fell to 10-4 and 15-10.

Kallin Spiller scored seven of her 15 points in UH’s 9-0 run to start the second half after the teams went into the break tied at 35.

Irvine cut the lead to 50-48 late in the third quarter, but Nae Nae Calhoun hit a 3-pointer to make it 53-48 headed into the final 10 minutes.

Amy Atwell, coming off a season-low four points in Thursday’s loss to UC San Diego, led UH with 25 points, including a 3-pointer to expand Hawaii’s lead to 60-50 with 4:48 left. Atwell also had a career-high 13 rebounds.

UH was plagued by 11 first-half turnovers and 20 for the game.

Kayla Williams led the Anteaters with 19 points.