UC Irvine’s bid for its first berth in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament since 1995 and second all-time ended with a 59-48 loss to top-seeded Hawaii in the final of the Big West Championship Saturday evening in Henderson, Nevada.
The second-seeded Anteaters led 10-9 at the end of the first quarter and 26-21 at halftime but never led again after going scoreless for a six-minute, eight-second span of the third quarter when the Rainbow Wahine scored 14 unanswered points to take a 38-29 lead with 2:31 left in the quarter.
The Anteaters trailed 41-36 entering the fourth quarter, then were outscored 8-0 to start the quarter, with Big West Conference Player of the Year Amy Atwell scoring five points, as Hawaii took its biggest lead, 49-36, with 6:53 to play.
UC Irvine responded with seven consecutive points on Jayde Cadee’s 3-point basket and two free throws each by Chloe Webb and Sophia Locandro, cutting the deficit to 49-43 with 5:14 remaining.
Neither team scored for the next 3:53. The Anteaters missed six consecutive shots and two free throws and committed a turnover. The Rainbow Wahine missed four shots and committed three turnovers.
Hawaii guard Daejah Phillips ended the scoreless spell by making two free throws with 1:20 to play, increasing its lead to 51-43. The Rainbow Wahine led by at least eight for the rest of the game.
UC Irvine made two of its 17 shots in the fourth quarter, 11.8%, and 16 of 59 for the game, 27.1%. Hawaii made two of its eight in the fourth quarter, 25%, and 15 of 48 for the game, 31.3%.
“We had a lot of opportunities Saturday and it just didn’t fall for us,” Anteaters coach Tamara Inoue said.
The victory gave top-seeded Rainbow Wahine (20-9) the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Hawaii will be making it seventh appearance in the tournament and first since 2016.
The loss at Dollar Loan Center was the Anteaters’ fifth in their six appearances in the final of the conference tournament and second in two years. Their lone victory came in 1995.
Rainbow Wahine forward Olivia Davies led all scorers with 14 points. Atwell added 13 and forward Nnnenna Orji 11 in 16 minutes off the bench as Hawaii extended its winning streak to eight games.
First-team All-Big West Conference guard Kayla Williams and Cadee led UC Irvine with 11 points each as the Anteaters’ season-high six-game winning streak ended. UC Irvine also lost both its regular-season games against the Rainbow Wahine.
The Anteaters (21-11) will receive an automatic bid to the Postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The highest-finishing team in each of the 32 Division I conferences’ regular-season standings that is not selected for the NCAA Tournament receives the WNIT automatic berth, regardless of overall or conference record.
The 64-team Postseason WNIT field will be released at approximately 6 p.m. Sunday. Matchups, locations and start times for the first-round games and full bracket will be announced by 11 a.m. Monday. The tournament will begin Wednesday.