Hawai'i Edges CSUN; Matadors 4-Seed In BWC Tourney

COMPLETE BIG WEST TOURNAMENT BRACKET

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—Hawai'i edged CSUN 69-68 in the regular season finale for both Big West women's basketball squads. As a result of the victory, Hawai'i, UC Riverside, and CSUN tied for second in the Big West with a 10-6 record.

From the three-way tie, Hawai'i is the second seed for the Big West Tournament, UC Riverside is the third seed, while the Matadors fall to the number four seed at next week's 2019 Big West Tournament presented by Pacific Surfliner.

THE BASICS

SCORE: Hawai'i 69, CSUN 68
LOCATION: Northridge, Calif., The Matadome
RECORDS: Hawai'i 14-15 (10-6 BWC), CSUN 16-14 (10-6 BWC),

HOW IT HAPPENED

The score was tied at 13 after one quarter before the Rainbow Wahine mounted the game changing charge. Trailing 27-17, a Channon Fluker three-point play put an end to the run. Hayley Tanabe's layup cut it to 27-22. The closest the Matadors would get in the first half would be three as Hawai'i took a 36-30 lead into halftime.
After going 5-of-16 to start the game, the Rainbow Wahine sank their first five field goals of the second quarter and would make 9-of-13 field goal attempts in the second. The Rainbow Wahine were 4-of-6 from three-point range and 5-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first half
CSUN opened the third quarter on a 7-2 and outscored the Rainbow Wahine 13-7 at one point. The Matadors rallied to tie the score on two occasions, including a Juliana Louis three-pointer that made it 48-48 with just under four to play in the frame.
Down 53-48, Fluker sank a three. Eliza Matthews was fouled on the play. She made two free throws to tie the score at 53. Tia Kanoa was fouled with three seconds remaining in the quarter. She connected on both attempts to create a 55-53 score after 30 minutes.
The Rainbow Wahine began the fourth on a 10-4 run that was matched by a 7-2 response from the Matadors. Hawai'i took a timeout at the 2:52 mark, leading 67-64. The Matadors cut it to one when Claudia Ramos hit a mid-range jumper at 1:39. The Rainbow Wahine responded with a Lauren Rewers short jumper the next time down.
Eliza Matthews again cut it to one with a the 47-second mark The Matadors got a stop and called timeout with 15.4 seconds left.
CSUN worked the ball around into the hands of Fluker who took a three-point attempt at the buzzer. The ball went off the back of the rim and out, giving the Rainbow Wahine the victory.

FOR CSUN

Maulupe scored a game high 24 points. She was 10-of-16 from the floor, 4-of-4 from three-point land.
Fluker tallied her 75th career double-double with 20 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks, and two assists.

FOR HAWAI'I

The Rainbow Wahine were 9-of-19 from three-point range for the game (47.4%) UH shot 25-of-55 (45.5%) for the game.
Amy Atwell led the Rainbow Wahine with 18 points. Leah Salanoa had 16 while Rewers posted 10.

ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH JASON FLOWERS

"I thought we did some better things offensively. Obviously Serafina did some things well to put the ball in the basket. Hats off to Hawai'i, they shot the ball well. We got back in it and tied it up. But there were too many times when the game was tied where we had an empty possession and we couldn't get over that hump."

"Regardless of the outcome of today's game. We have to take one game at time at the Big West Tournament. If we do what we are supposed to and win, we will get a day off and be in the same routine we have during conference season. The message won't be any different. We will come back on Monday and get ready to play whoever we need to on Wednesday."

UP NEXT

As the four seed, CSUN will play the highest remaining seed in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Wednesday, Mar. 13 in the Bren Center on the UC Irvine campus. Game time is set for 8:30 p.m. or 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one of the day between UC Riverside and the lowest remaining seed.
Eric Kaback will have an audio only call on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health with a pregame show starting 10 minutes prior to tip. ESPN 3 will have the streaming coverage of the entire tournament.

Next Event

Team Stats

Serafina Maulupe

Channon Fluker

Hayley Tanabe

Eliza Matthews

Players Mentioned

Channon Fluker

Juliana Louis

Eliza Matthews

Claudia Ramos

Hayley Tanabe