Senior guard Kelsie Imai scored a game-high 12 points with four rebounds, three assists and two steals to lead the Hawaii women’s basketball team to a 49-44 win over UC Irvine today at Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif.
Imani Perez added 10 points and five rebounds and Ritorya Tamilo finished with eight points and 10 boards for Hawaii (18-6, 13-2 Big West), which extended its winning streak to 13 games and earned a regular-season sweep of the Anteaters (16-8, 10-4) to take control of the race for the top seed in league play.
Hawaii is two games up on UC Irvine in the loss column with five games to play.
The Rainbow Wahine jumped out to a 16-8 lead after the first quarter despite eight turnovers and outscored the Anteaters 26-20 in the second half.
UH outrebounded UCI 46-45 and held the Anteaters to 24.1% (14-for-58) shooting from the field.
UCI was 4-for-29 from 3-point range.
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UH used nine players with senior Mia ‘Uhila missing her first game of the season after slipping on the floor in Thursday’s win over Long Beach State.
UH’s 13-game winning streak is the seventh-longest in program history.
Hawaii will return home for a single game next Saturday against UC San Diego.