A crowd of 311 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Rainbow Wahine (2-2) win their second game in a row and snap the four-game winning streak of the Otahkians (4-2).

"It's a great win," Taylor said. "We did a good job in practice. We watched films as a team over and over. We knew their tendencies. We tried to come out and put it all together. It worked."

Hawai'i can win the tournament with a victory tomorrow against Brigham Young. Hawai'i last won the tournament in 2002.

Hawai'i's Milia Macfarlane contributed 15 points, Brittany Grice 14 and Jade Abele 10. Southeast Missouri State's Tatiana Conceicao scored 22 points and Simone Jackson added 16 points and nine rebounds.

Hawai'i fared well against Southeast Missouri State's vaunted full-court press and committed just 15 turnovers to the Otahkians' 19. Hawai'i recycled those turnovers into 23 points, while giving up 14 points off its own miscues.

"I don't think we focused enough in the game," Conceicao said. "They had a good team, but we had a good team, too. We needed to be patient. We had too many turnovers in the game. That killed us."

The Rainbow Wahine never trailed in the second half and used a 9-0 run capped by Taylor's 3-point play to open their biggest lead of the game at 59-45 with 8:48 remaining.

Rainbow Wahine center Alofa Toiaivao puts up a hook shot over the Southeast Missouri State defense in the first half.

The Otahkians closed to 61-54 on Chandra Brown's basket with 6:38 remaining, but could not overcome the deficit.

"In one of the timeouts, I said that's our goal, not to get the score any closer to 10," Hawai'i coach Jim Bolla said. "We were fortunate we ended with 10."

Bolla said he was particularly pleased with his team's composure when two key players — Abele and Alofa Toiaivao — were forced to the bench with early foul trouble. Abele, a first-team all-conference selection, played 27 minutes. Toiaivao finished with six points, eight rebounds and three blocks in 18 minutes before fouling out.

"We had some people in foul trouble early," Bolla said. "That threw a wrench in what we wanted to do, but we had some people step up."

Among the standouts were: Grice (6 for 6 from the field with six rebounds), Macfarlane (career-high in points), Taylor (14 second-half points) and the duo of Trisha Nishimoto and Amy Sanders (just two total turnovers). Sanders also had seven points, six rebounds and five assists.

In the first half, Hawai'i led 19-12 before Southeast Missouri State engineered a 17-4 run for a 29-23 lead with 4:26 remaining.

Hawai'i responded with a 13-2 surge to end the half with a 36-31 lead. During the surge, Sanders scored five points and Toiaivao added four — including the go-ahead basket that put Hawai'i ahead 30-29 when she rebounded her own missed free throw.

Note

Southeast Missouri State's nickname — Otahkians — comes from Otahki, a Cherokee Indian who died in the 1838-1839 winter on a legendary march from the Appalachian Mountains to Oklahoma.

Hawai'i recycled 13 first-half turnovers into 17 points.