A rusty University of Hawai'i women's basketball team turned to Janevia Taylor to give it some polish last night.

Taylor scored 14 of her game-high 20 points in the second half, and Hawai'i overcame a slow start to defeat visiting Kent State, 61-55, for its sixth consecutive victory.

"I'm excited to come back and get a win after the long layoff," said Taylor, whose Rainbow Wahine played their first game in 11 days. "We came out a little rusty, but we came back."

A crowd of 794 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Rainbow Wahine improve to 8-2 in non-conference play. The Golden Flashes, from Kent, Ohio, dropped to 7-3.

Hawai'i's six-game win streak is the longest under second-year UH coach Jim Bolla, and the best since the 2002 Western Athletic Conference season.

"I think we're a really good team now," Hawai'i senior guard Amy Sanders said. "But we definitely have to play well against the teams we play. No team is going to roll over."

Hawai'i and Kent State play again tomorrow at 7 p.m. It will be the final preseason game for Hawai'i before it begins the Western Athletic Conference season, Jan. 5, at Nevada.

Sanders returned to the starting lineup last night after missing the Dec. 17 game against visiting Campbell because of a stomach ailment. Sanders, who had played in 92 consecutive games before the illness, scored 10 points last night.

"I feel great," Sanders said.

Hawai'i played one of its most aggressive games last night and routinely bumped, blocked and outmuscled Kent State inside the key. The Rainbow Wahine finished with 11 blocks — six by Alofa Toiaivao — and held a 54-47 rebounding edge.

"They out-physicalled us," Kent State coach Bob Lindsay said. "They knocked us around pretty good on the inside. I thought that was the difference in the game."

Hawai'i's defense held Kent State's top scorer Lindsay Shearer to 15 points on 6-of-22 shooting. Shearer entered the game averaging 21.2 points per game.

Hawai'i employed a 2-3 match-up zone in the first half, and switched to man-to-man mostly for the second half.

"I think our zone slowed them down, and allowed us to calm down," Bolla said. "It gave our offense a little confidence because we were getting defensive stops. When we get stops, we get excited on offense."

Sarah Burgess led Kent State with 17 points, and Kerrie James added 13. Brittany Grice had a game-high 16 rebounds for Hawai'i.

Hawai'i started the game shooting 1 of 13 from the field and trailed by as many as 12 midway through the first half.

Hawai'i rallied with a 13-2 run in the final six minutes to take a 33-30 lead at intermission. Grice and Sanders each scored four points during the surge.

In the second half, the Rainbow Wahine used a 12-6 run — led by Dalia Solia's six points and Taylor's four — for a 45-36 lead.

The Golden Flashes closed to 55-53 on James' basket with 5:39 left but would get no closer.

Hawai'i finished the game on a 6-2 run. Taylor iced the game by hitting 4 of 4 foul shots, and Pam Tambini added two free throws to cap the surge.

Kent State starting guard Rachel Bennett played just five minutes because of sickness, and fellow starters James and Malika Willoughby suffered leg injuries in the game.

The pair of games against Kent State were scheduled after two teams pulled out of a four-team tournament.

KENT STATE (55)

MP FG FT R A S PF TP

BENNETT 5 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0

JAMES 33 4-6 4-6 2 3 2 2 13

WILLOUGHBY 35 1-8 2-5 4 6 2 4 4

SHEARER 38 6-22 0-2 7 0 0 2 15

LAFLEUR 8 0-3 0-0 5 0 1 2 0

VAVREK 11 0-1 0-0 2 0 0 1 0

BURGESS 31 7-14 1-2 3 3 2 4 17

STEWART 18 2-8 0-1 7 1 2 1 4

SCULL 7 0-1 0-0 2 0 1 2 0

GRIFFITH 14 1-2 0-0 5 0 1 4 2

TEAM 10

TOTALS 21-67 7-16 47 13 11 22 55

PERCENTAGE .313 .438

HAWAI'I (61)

MP FG FT R A S PF TP

TAYLOR 33 6-15 8-9 5 2 2 2 20

SANDERS 36 3-8 3-6 7 4 0 3 10

SOLIA 28 4-10 0-0 5 4 1 1 8

TAMBINI 34 3-14 3-3 5 1 2 0 9

GRICE 27 2-8 2-4 16 0 0 4 6

CHRETIEN 6 0-0 0-0 0 0 2 2 0

SMITH 8 0-0 2-4 2 1 0 1 2

TOIAIVAO 28 3-10 0-0 8 3 1 4 6

TEAM 6

TOTALS 21-65 18-26 54 15 8 17 61

PERCENTAGE .323 .692

KENT STATE (7-3) 30 25—55

HAWAI'I (8-2) 33 28—61

3-point goals —Kent St. 6-16 (Shearer 3-5, Burgess 2-7, James 1-1, Willoughby 0-1, Bennett 0-2), Hawai'i 1-10 (Sanders 1-4, Tambini 0-1, Taylor 0-2, Solia 0-3).

Blocked shots —Kent St. 2 (Shearer 2), Hawai'i 11 (Toiaivao 6, Grice 3). Turnovers —Kent St. 19, Hawai'i 19. Technical fouls — Burgess.

Att—794.

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.