Rainbow Wahine fall to LSU in NCAA Tournament, ending memorable season

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The UH women’s basketball team’s memorable season came to an end in Baton Rouge on Friday, the team falling to LSU — 73-to-50 — in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

But UH didn’t go down without a fight.

Early on, Hawaii was trying to get on LSU quick, holding two leads in the first quarter.

The Tigers had an answer, though, and LSU was up 35-22 at halftime.

“We turned the ball over too much at times and some of it was just nerves or self inflicted.” UH Head Coach Laura Beeman told Hawaii News Now.

“I thought we battled on the board incredibly well, we missed open shots, they hit open shots.”

“That’s the difference at times between your top level teams and teams that aren’t. and unfortunately, some of those open looks we had just didn’t fall.”

UH was down by 15 at the half of the Big West Championship, the ‘Bows trying to muster up another comeback, but it wouldn’t be their night, final score 73-50.

“This was a really cool experience playing against some of the top girls in the nation,” UH guard Lily Wahinekapu said. “I feel like this game, I learned a lot from this game and what I need to work on.”

“I think we played really well today,” UH guard Daejah Phillips said.

“We could have hit some open shots that they hit, it probably would have been a closer game, I think we fought til that buzzer sounded and that’s what I’m super proud of.”

LSU’s Angel Reese notched a whopping 34 points while UHs Kallin Spiller and Daejah Phillips lead the team with 13 points a piece.

“Hats off to LSU,” UH forward Kallin Spiller said. “They’re a super a great program that’s going to make a deep run in this tournament and I’m really proud of what our team was able to show today.”

Despite wearing all green, the luck of the Irish wasn’t on their side. Hawaii’s unlikely season ends with a 18-15 record and back-to-back Big West Conference Championships.

The team returns to the islands on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Hawaii time and is inviting the fans to greet them at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

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