Hawai'i played without senior forward Jade Abele, who did not suit up for the first time this season because of a knee injury. She had played in 92 consecutive games, and made 81 straight starts.

"I don't think there's another player in the league who can bring to the table what Jade brings to the table," Hawai'i head coach Jim Bolla said. "We're not going to replace that."

Abele averaged 11.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game, but Bolla said her leadership was what was missed the most, especially in a close game.

"Being in a situation with Jade being out, I'm really proud of these kids because they could have given up and they didn't," he said.

But neither did the Wolf Pack, which overcame a nine-point second-half deficit to win its first WAC Tournament game ever.

A crowd of 468 watched Hawai'i complete its season at 11-15. Nevada, which advanced to today's quarterfinals against Rice, improved to 8-21.

The Rainbows beat Nevada twice this season, including a 62-54 victory in Reno last week.

Bolla broke down in tears at a postgame press conference while talking about his team's effort. But he also expressed concern over the officiating.

"We can't continue to play against eight people," he said. "That's all I'm going to say. You guys figure that one out."

Hawai'i was assessed 22 fouls to Nevada's 17. The Wolf Pack went 22 of 28 from the free-throw line, while the Rainbows were 12 of 14.

In the decisive second half, Hawai'i was called for 13 fouls to Nevada's eight.

"I want consistency, that's my biggest thing," Bolla said. "But officials didn't cost us the game, we just didn't play well and Nevada did. That's the bottom line."

Amy Sanders led Hawai'i with 21 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Janevia Taylor added 18 points, including four 3-pointers. Alofa Toiaivao, who started in place of Abele, contributed 13 points and eight rebounds.

Hawai'i starting center Brittany Grice was limited to two points in just 13 minutes because of foul trouble. She fouled out with 9:05 remaining in the game.

"You can't ever blame the game on officiating because it takes away from the other team playing hard," Grice said. "At the same time, I was very frustrated. I felt like we were getting position and we just weren't getting the calls inside that they were getting."

And with Abele out and Toiaivao in the starting lineup, the Hawai'i bench was depleted. UH got just two points from its reserves.

Hawai'i, which has been on the road since March 1, also appeared to run out of stamina in the second half.

The Rainbows led throughout most of the first half and took a 26-21 lead at halftime. They increased it to 39-30 lead with 14:50 remaining in the second half, but Nevada responded with an 11-0 run to take a 41-40 lead with 10 minutes left.

"We just played smarter, period," Nevada forward April Bankston said. "We just wanted it more. We were just fed up and we wanted it more."

The Wolf Pack increased its lead to 58-49 with 3:05 remaining, but Hawai'i rallied to get within one in the final minute.

UH had possession trailing 63-61 in the closing seconds, but Taylor missed an off-balance shot and Nevada's Jessica Preslar grabbed the rebound to secure the win.

"I think our defense was tremendous," Nevada head coach Kim Gervasoni said. "They want to pound it inside and they want to lob (the ball) inside and because of our ball pressure, they weren't able to do that."

The Wolf Pack collected 10 steals and forced Hawai'i into 20 turnovers, including 12 in the second half.

Sanders, who also eventually fouled out, said it didn't help that several Hawai'i players were in foul trouble in the second half.

"They were just going after me and I think that hurt us because there was pretty much nothing I could do defensively," she said.

Meghan McGuire scored 16 points to lead four Nevada players in double figures. Preslar added 14 and 10 rebounds, Amber Young had 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Bankston had 11 points.

Hawai'i loses just two seniors — Abele and Milia Macfarlane — and Bolla said fans are "going to see some things happen with us" next season.

"This isn't ever going to happen to us again," said Bolla, who completed his first season at UH. "I told all the kids to remember this feeling because you never want to feel it again."