The UC Irvine Women’s Basketball team (26-6, 17-3) faced a 67-63 defeat against the University of Hawai’i Rainbow Wahine team (22-10, 14-6) at the Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev. in the Big West Championship Semifinals on March 13.
Anteaters sophomore guard Lauryn Madsen, junior point guard Shirel Nahum, senior guard Jada Wynn, junior forward Summah Hanson and the 2025-2026 Big West Player of the Year senior guard Hunter Hernandez started things off for UC Irvine.
In an attempt to keep their top-seeded spot, Wynn opened the game with a three-pointer that jumped the Anteaters to an early three point lead.
Quickly following, Rainbow Wahine freshman guard Keiara Curtis had a successful two-pointer that brought the score to a one point difference at 3-2.
The majority of the quarter was close between the two teams until Hawai’i senior forward Imani Perez claimed a three-pointer that jumped Rainbow Wahine to a five point lead with just 1:20 left on the clock.
Perez earned another three-pointer for her team that created an eight-point gap between the two teams.
After two free throws and a two-pointer from UC Irvine, the first quarter ended at 20-16 with Hawai’i in the lead.
UC Irvine sophomore guard Naomy Zonzon-Huyghe kicked off the next quarter with a three-pointer that brought the score to 20-19, with the Anteaters trailing behind by only one.
UC Irvine’s Hernandez took the opportunity to make two successful free throws, making the Anteaters a consistent top free throwing team in the conference.
The rest of the quarter continued to be close and the teams tied three times. Later on, Hawai’i had a 10-0 point run to close out the first half of the game with the score at 39-30.
In the third quarter, Rainbow freshman guard Bailey Flavell made a three-pointer that jumped Hawai’i to a twelve point lead, which was the largest gap of the game.
The Anteaters had a 10-0 point run that was a combined effort between Hernandez and Wynn.
Hawai’i then closed out the quarter with eight consecutive points and the score stood at 52-42 with the Rainbow Wahine at a ten-point lead.
Going into the final quarter of the Big West semifinals, the Anteaters hoped to turn the game around for themselves.
UC Irvine’s Hernandez had two successful free throw shots and a layup that closed the gap to only a six-point difference.
Both teams continued back and forth until Anteater Madsen made a three-pointer that turned around the game for the Anteaters, as they took the lead 58-57 with just under three and a half minutes left in the game.
In the final 12 seconds, UC Irvine’s Wynn came in with a two pointer that booted the Hawai’i lead. However, four seconds later Rainbow Wahine Flavell made a three-pointer that tied up the game 60-60.
Since the quarter ended in a tie, the game went to overtime as both teams fought to clinch the win and move on to the finals the following day.
In overtime, Hawai’i started off strong with two free throw points until UC Irvine’s Wynn came right back with a two pointer that tied the game again.
Hernandez then claimed a free throw point, which was the last point of the game for the Anteaters.
Hawai’i took home the win with five consecutive points which left the final score 67-63.
In the post-game conference, UC Irvine Coach Tamara Inoue discussed how tough overtime was for the Anteaters and how they fought back.
“We came out in the beginning, in the first half just not ready but the way we fought was really nice,” Inoue stated in the conference. “For me, just taking this job and being here, it’s just putting UC Irvine on the map and being competitive.”
This loss ended the UC Irvine Anteaters Big West Championship run. The Anteaters will next be in action in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament against the San Diego State University Aztecs at Jenny Craig Pavillion on March 19.
Cayley Mazer is a Sports Intern for the winter 2026 quarter. She can be reached at cmazer@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Geneses Navarro.
