11-10, 6-3BWC
Hawai'i
15-7, 7-2BWC
Hawai'i Claims Battle for First Place in Big West Against Cal Poly, 79-64
2/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HONOLULU — Cal Poly's three seniors combined for 55 points and 16 rebounds, but Hawai'i snapped a recent five-game losing stretch against the Mustang women's basketball program on Saturday night, gaining sole possession of first place in the Big West Conference standings, 79-64 in Stan Sheriff Center.
After UH (7-2, 15-7) raced out to an early 18-9 lead, Cal Poly (6-3, 11-10) went on a 10-2 run to pull within a point on a Taryn Garza bucket 7:01 before halftime.
Hawai'i responded to take a 39-31 advantage to the break, and then added to the gap early in the second half, taking the largest lead of the game at 52-35 with 16:37 remaining.
An 8-0 run comprised of two free throws and a jumper by Ariana Elegado, a free throw by Garza and then an And-1 layup by Kristen Ale cut the deficit to 62-54 with 6:31 left, but the Rainbow Wahine regrouped to go back up by double digits the rest of the way from there.
Shawna-Lei Kuehu finished with a game-high 22 points for UH, which won its 11th consecutive conference home game.
Elegado ended with 20 points; Ale added 18, and Garza finished with 17 to go along with 10 rebounds (her sixth game this season with at least that many boards).
Thanks to her two made shots from behind the arc, Elegado moved to No. 7 all-time in league history in career 3-pointers (225).
Cal Poly will also be on the road next week, traveling to face near-unanimous preseason favorite CSUN (5-5, 15-9) at 7 p.m. Thursday on ESPN3 and then Long Beach State (6-3, 19-4), the team with the Big West's best overall record, at 4 p.m. Saturday.
