The Maui News

One more win, and the Rainbow Wahine will be going dancing for the first time in six years.

Amy Atwell had 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team to a 69-55 victory over UC Riverside in the semifinals of the Hercules Tire Big West Championships on Friday in Henderson, Nev.

Later in the day, the UH men saw their tournament run end with a 58-46 loss to Cal State Fullerton.

The top-seeded Rainbow Wahine (19-9) got off to a fast start and never looked back against the fourth-seeded Highlanders (14-11), setting up a tournament championship matchup with No. 2 UC Irvine at 3 p.m. HST today.

It’s the fourth time in the last 10 years since re-joining the Big West that UH has advanced to the finals and the first time since 2019. The Rainbow Wahine last won the tournament in 2016 to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

UH never trailed against UC Riverside, opening up a 26-point lead in the second quarter. The ‘Bows led 43-21 at the half, and the Highlanders never got within single digits the rest of the game.

After being held to just four points in the quarterfinals, Big West Player of the Year Atwell buried six 3-pointers to give her 69, surpassing Julissa Tago (66) for a new school single-season record.

Kallin Spiller added 11 points and Olivia Davis scored 10 for UH.

Jada Holland led the Highlanders with 15 points.

In the men’s semifinals, the third-seeded Rainbow Warriors (17-11) never led but was never quite out of it against the Titans (20-10) until late.

A layup by JoVon McClanahan pulled UH within 24-21 with 3:30 left in the first half, but the ‘Bows were unable to score again in the period and trailed 28-21 at the half. Hawaii got within 42-38 with 4:37 remaining in the game on a 3-pointer by Junior Madut, though that was as close as UH would get as Fullerton pulled away.

Mate Colina had 12 points to lead the Rainbow Warriors, who shot 27.8 percent (15 of 54) from the field. McClanahan scored nine points and Madut finished with seven points and 10 rebounds.

The Titans got 18 points from Damari Milstead and 16 from E.J. Anosike.