The Rainbow Wahine basketball team struggled from the field and lost to UNLV, 67-54, in last night's semifinals of the Duel in the Desert tournament in Las Vegas.

Hawai'i (4-6) hit just 19 of 60 shots (32 percent) from the field and could not claw out of a double-digit deficit for most of the game at Cox Pavillion. Breanna Arbuckle had a double-double in the loss with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Hawai'i plays 10th-ranked Florida State (10-1) in today's third-place game at 3 p.m. HST. DePaul (9-3) upset the Seminoles, 75-60, and will face UNLV (6-5) in the championship game.

Hawai'i and UNLV struggled to find the basket in the first half. Keisha Kanekoa made two free throws to cut UNLV's lead to 12-7 with 8:35 remaining. UNLV then went on an 11-2 run over the next six minutes to lead 23-9 after Amanda Anderson hit a 3-pointer with 2:31 left. Arbuckle hit a 3 to cut the deficit to 23-12 at halftime.

The Rainbow Wahine shot 3-of-24 (13 percent) in the first half.

Hawai'i cut the deficit to 23-15 on Dita Liepkalne's 3-pointer early in the second half. India Chaney followed with a basket to extend the lead to 10, but Julita Bungaite's jumper cut it to 25-17 with 18:21 left.

UNLV followed with an 11-4 run to lead 36-21 with 14:40 remaining, then continued to pull away. Sophomore Jamie Smith, an 'Iolani School alum, made a layup with 8:30 left to extend UNLV's lead to 54-31, the largest lead of the game.

Smith, last year's Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year, finished with just six points but grabbed 17 rebounds. Erica Helms scored 17 points, Kelli Thompson 16 and Anderson 10 for UNLV, which shot 50 percent (16 of 32) from the field in the second half.

Rebecca Dew and Leilani Galdones scored eight points each for the Rainbow Wahine.