Rainbow Wahine basketball team rallies past UC Riverside

Hawaii guard Lily Wahinekapu scored 16 of her team-high 17 points in the second half and the Rainbow Wahine basketball team rallied to a 60-49 win over UC Riverside today in Riverside, Calif.

UH (13-13, 11-6 Big West) reached .500 overall for the first time this season and moved into a tie for third place in the conference standings with the win to open the final road trip of the regular season.

UC Riverside opened up an 11-point margin in the second quarter and led 35-26 with 6:21 left in the third quarter. Wahinekapu then scored 10 points in a 20-3 UH run capped by Kelsie Imai’s 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter.

UH had just one more field goal in the game, a Kallin Spiller 3-pointer with 2:28 left, but went 11-for-12 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to earn its fifth win in the last six games.

Freshman forward Imani Perez scored nine of her career-high 11 points in the first half and guard Daejah Phillips finished with 10.

UH went 15-for-18 from the line overall, with Wahinekapu (7-for-8), Imai (4-for-4) and Phillips (4-for-6) accounting for all of the team’s attempts.

Wahinekapu also set a career high with six steals as UH’s defense came up with a season-high 15 among UC Riverside’s 23 turnovers. UH outscored UCR 20-6 on points off turnovers.

Guard Jordan Webster led UCR (5-22, 3-14) with 20 points, with two 3-pointers and a 10-for-12 showing from the free-throw line.

UH caught UC Santa Barbara for third place and closes the road trip at UC Irvine at noon on Saturday. Long Beach State erased a 22-point deficit to edge UCSB 66-63 today in Long Beach, Calif.