By ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Long Beach State women’s basketball team fell out of the Big West Tournament under a barrage of three-pointers in its 76-60 semifinal loss to Hawai’i on Friday inside the Honda Center in Anaheim.
The Rainbow Wahine almost resembled the Golden State Warriors as they dropped 12 threes, going 46.2 percent from behind the arc.
UH senior Marissa Wimbley posted a career-high 18 points, which led all Hawai’i players. The 5-foot-5-inch guard also went a career-high six of nine from downtown and had three assists.
“Once I hit the first couple,” Wimbley said. “I just got more confident and excited.”
The Rainbow Wahine also dominated the boards as they snagged 41 rebounds compared to LBSU’s 17. Hawai’i also controlled the offensive glass, grabbing 14 rebounds; 12 more than the 49ers.
“We dominated the boards,” Hawai’i head coach Laura Beeman said. “And that was something we needed to do.”
Despite getting outplayed in all areas of the game, LBSU’s junior guard Raven Benton posted a game high of 27 points.
The 5-foot-10-inch junior seemed to get to the basket at will with 15 of her points coming in the second half.
“[Benton] is strong and she’s physical,” LBSU head coach Jody Wynn said. “She has the ability to get to the rim and get fouled. That’s what you have to able to do against a team as strong and physical as Hawai’i is.”
LBSU started the game off by letting Hawai’i get a four-point lead. The 49ers answered with buckets of their own to jump on an 8-2 run.
The run was shortly lived as the Rainbow Wahine answered back with four 3-pointers and went on 9-4 run to the end the first quarter leading 18-12.
“[Threes] are a huge factor, 36 points is a lot of points when that is not what [Hawai’i] have always done all season long,” Wynn said. “Those kids shot it well on a big stage; hats off to them.”
The second quarter was more of the same as UH continued to extend its lead. At one point the Rainbow Wahine led by as many as 14 points. UH went into halftime with a 36-24 lead.
The 49ers started the third quarter with a 13-3 run that brought Hawai’i’s lead down to four. This would be the closest LBSU would get to regaining the lead.
LBSU’s defense could not stop the Rainbow Wahine’s three-point shooting as they dropped four triples to end the third quarter with a 15-point lead.
In the fourth, UH continued its dominance from long range, dropping three more triples.
“We came into this game with a focus of taking away points in the paint and play the statistics,” Wynn said. “We wanted to see if Hawai’i could beat us from the perimeter, and that is what they did.”
LBSU made it to the semifinal after eliminating Cal Poly from the tourney on Wednesday. With the scored tied at 52, Benton drilled a fade away with less than a second remaining in the game to give the 49ers the win.
Junior point guard Anna Kim led the 49ers with 15 points, but followed up her stellar offensive performance with just four points against Hawai’i on Friday.
The Rainbow Wahine defeated UC Davis 78-59 in the final on Saturday.
The 49ers will wait and see if they did enough to earn an at-large berth for either the NCAA or Women’s National Invitation Tournament. Both selection shows are on Monday evening and will air on ESPN.
