The happy zone for Utah State's Ana Pares was beyond the 3-point line tonight against Hawai'i.

Anything closer was simply too close.

For the Rainbow Wahine, the misery and frustration continued as their losing streak reached eight after a 52-43 loss to Utah State at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"We made progress in that we're still in there at the end," said Hawai'i coach Jim Bolla. "The last couple games, with four minutes (left), it's 20 points. Not to say that's what we want. We're making progress. Tonight we took a step forward."

Pares, who played all 40 minutes, scored 23 points, including 18 in the second half on 4-of-4 shooting from 3-point range, as Utah State won for the first time in Honolulu.

"I just found myself open a couple of times and I took the shots and they went in," said Pares, a 5-foot-8 senior guard.

She finished 5 of 7 from 3-point range, and just 1 of 9 from 2-point territory with the lone make being a break-away layup with 5:15 left.

"We knew she could shoot it and we had some breakdowns," Bolla said. "We just couldn't get to her. A couple of times we were there, but we didn't put the hand up."

Hawai'i was within 44-43 after a field goal by Megan Tinnin with 1:45 remaining. The Aggies got a field goal by Danyelle Snelgro with 1:18 left and then hit 6 of 6 free-throw attempts over the final 50 seconds, including four from Snelgro.

"The execution in the second half was a big difference for us," said Utah State coach Raegan Pebley. "We needed to be a little more patient waiting for screens and set good screens."

Utah State, which had been 0-3 in previous games here, improved to 10-10 overall and 4-3 in the Western Athletic Conference. Hawai'i fell to 3-16 and 0-6.