Rainbow Wahine basketball team rallies for road win at UC San Diego

Hawaii guard Ashley Thoms sparked a second-half comeback with three 3-pointers and the Rainbow Wahine basketball team rallied for a breakthrough 61-58 win against UC San Diego today in La Jolla, Calif.

In a reversal from the first meeting of the season, UH erased a 16-point second-quarter deficit to take the lead in the fourth quarter and held on in the final seconds to earn its first win in four tries against UCSD.

UCSD led 43-30 with 3:35 left in the third quarter when Thoms drained two 3-pointers in an 11-0 UH run to end the period. UH tied the game at 45-45 on a Lily Wahinekapu drive and took its first lead at 48-47 when Kelsie Imai drained a 3-pointer from the top with 8:13 left.

Thoms hit another 3-pointer to give UH a 53-49 lead. After UCSD guard Sydney Brown’s 3-pointer brought the Tritons within a point, Thoms found Daejah Phillips for a layup to give UH a 61-58 lead with 1:41 left.

The final 39 seconds were played on UCSD’s side of the court. The Tritons saw four shots come up empty and UH earned payback for a 60-57 loss on Jan. 5 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. UCSD rallied from an 18-point deficit that night in its third straight win over UH.

After shooting 23% from the field in the first half, UH (10-12, 8-5 Big West) shot 57% in the second half and 6-for-9 from 3-point range.

Forward Kallin Spiller and guard Lily Wahinekapu led UH with 12 points each and Thoms finished with nine points, six rebounds and three assists. Imai also hit three 3-pointers and had six boards and three assists.

Brown scored 10 points in the first quarter but was held to five for the remainder of the game for UCSD (11-12, 8-5). Emily Cangelosi finished with 14 points and eight rebounds. Julia Macabuhay, who bedeviled UH in previous meetings, was held to six points.

UH won back-to-back games for the first time since the opening weekend of the Big West season and faces Cal State Fullerton on Saturday to cap the road trip.