Kiki Rice, No. 1 UCLA women pull away from Hawaii
HONOLULU — Kiki Rice scored 14 of her 21 points before halftime to lead top-ranked UCLA to a 70-49 victory over Hawaii on Sunday in the final day of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown.
Lauren Betts added 18 points but saw her string of five straight double-doubles come to an end. Gabriela Jacquez had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Bruins (8-0).
Rice shot 7 for 10 from the field, including a pair from behind the arc, and made all five of her free throws.
Daejah Phillips pulled Hawaii within 32-31 with her runner in the lane 26 seconds into the second half, but Betts answered with a basket inside to ignite a 22-4 UCLA run that gave her team a 54-35 lead with 1:26 left in the third quarter.
As expected, UCLA dominated in the post. It outscored Hawaii 40-14 on points in the paint and overwhelmed its three opponents this week by a combined 146-26.
Lily Wahinekapu scored 10 points for Hawaii (5-2), which saw its five-game win streak come to an end.
Hawaii was limited to 14-of-53 shooting from the field and 6 for 25 from 3-point range.
UCLA led 32-29 at halftime.
UCLA: Over the course of their three games in Hawaii, the Bruins never trailed and led for all but 46 seconds. They won each game by an average of more than 45 points.
Hawaii: The Rainbow Wahine were without 6-foot-5 freshman center Ritorya Tamilo (10.8 ppg). She was not suited up Sunday and was wearing an arm sling during pregame warm-ups.
UP NEXT
UCLA will face a familiar opponent when it plays its first ever Big Ten Conference game at Washington on Sunday.