Despite a remarkable comeback, the University of Hawai‘i women's basketball team dropped a 51-49 heartbreaker to UC San Diego in the Big West Tournament semifinals in Henderson, Nev. on Friday.
For the second consecutive year, the Rainbow Wahine fell in the Big West semifinals as the top seed.
Hawai‘i was ice cold in the first half, making just five of its 29 field goal attempts. UC San Diego led as much as 39-12 in the second quarter.
Down 18 entering the fourth quarter, the Rainbow Wahine staged a furious comeback to tie the game at 49 with a 3-point play by Brooklyn Rewers with 1:10 remaining. UC San Diego had the ball last after a Hawai‘i turnover, and Sumayah Sugapong capitalized with a layup with 0.2 seconds remaining, breaking UH's hearts in the final moments.
Sugapong had a game-high 17 points for the Tritons, while Big West Player of the Year Lily Wahinekapu had 12 points to lead the Rainbow Wahine.
The Rainbow Wahine fell to 22-9 with the defeat but qualify for the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament for the second year in a row by virtue of winning the Big West regular season title. UH's opponent for its first-round WBIT matchup will be revealed on Sunday at 3 p.m. HST.
"Unfortunately, when you lose a game like this, it hurts," UH head coach Laura Beeman said after the game. "This is not where we want to be sitting, but it will not define this team. We will rally, we have postseason play that we're still gonna be in and hopefully we can continue to do special things together and not have this time as a team end."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
