The glue that helped the Wahine put it all together was sophomore point guard BJ Itoman, who sat out most of the first half after picking up two fouls. Itoman returned for 13 second-half points and three of the team's 12 steals to help Hawaii (4-3) win its third in a row.
"She's extremely quick," Santa Clara coach Caren Horstmeyer said of Itoman. "Our players were giving her her right-hand dribble. Itoman really stepped it up in the second half.
"And Hawaii's defense really affected our offense and our defense let down. They're a good team that doesn't let up. We shot very poorly in the second half and they caused it."
The Broncos (5-2), coming off a big win Saturday over Mississippi, shot 52 percent in the first half, 21 percent in the second. Santa Clara had its offensive flow disrupted when point guard Lisa Sacco, the team's leading scorer, committed three fouls in the first half.
Sacco, averaging 14.2 points, finished with one free throw. Itoman, not whistled for a foul in the second half, finished with all-tournament honors.
"It was my fault, getting two quick fouls," Itoman said. "I spent the rest of the half, wanting to get back in the game. I wanted to come back and play smart.
"This was a good win over a good team. We've been letting teams come back on us. We don't want to get a reputation of letting games slip away."
The five-minute mark has been Hawaii's bugaboo all season. The Wahine have seen late-game leads turn into late-game losses.
Yesterday, the letdown happened twice, at the end of the first half and at the end of the second. With 4:25 to go before intermission, the Broncos went on a 13-2 run to take a 29-21 advantage into the lockerroom.
Nani Cockett's seven points sandwiched a steal and layup by Itoman to give Hawaii its first lead of the second half at 39-37. Santa Clara closed to 48-45 with 5:06 left and "when they did that, we dug deep," said Wahine senior center Kendis Leeburg.
"We wanted it. We stepped it up on defense, put the ball in the hole and started to take it to them."
The Wahine answered with 14-6 run, with Itoman scoring six of the team's final eight points. Leeburg also came up big on the defensive boards (11 rebounds) down the stretch, finishing with 13 rebounds, 15 points and all-tournament honors.
This was a really important win for us," said Leeburg. "Santa Clara was a very good team that tested us again and again. This time, we passed the test."
Santa Clara center Nicole Silacci gave high marks to Itoman and the 544 fans.
"She's very feisty and caused problems for our guards," said all-tournament pick Silacci, who led her team with 15 points. "Their fans are great, make a lot of noise and it's a true home-court advantage. We lost our composure at the end.
"It was a great win over Ole Miss (58-53 Saturday). It was hard because we wanted the championship and we had the lead, but lost it."
It was the second time Santa Clara had opened the Invitational with a win over an SEC school and then lost to Hawaii in the title game. It also happened in 1992, when the Broncos upset No. 13 Georgia, then fell to the Wahine, 80-78.
Cockett led Hawaii with 27 points, 16 in the second half, and was named the tournament's MVP.
"We'll take the other wins but this one was very important for the way we won it," Cockett said.
"The end of the game is a lot more important than the ending of the first half," Hawaii coach Vince Goo said. "We learned from our win over Wright State Saturday where we held them to one field goal in the last 7:45. We went in at halftime and talked about what we needed to get back in the game.
"We needed a perfect 20 minutes in the second half. Leeburg was strong when it counted and BJ was unbelievable. I would not like to have to bring the ball up the court against her."
Hawaii next hosts the Ala Moana Paradise Classic Friday, Saturday and Monday. Competing in the round-robin tournament are Middle Tennessee, Missouri, West Virginia and the host Wahine.
Mississippi 76, Wright State 45: Lisa Smith scored 20 points to lead the Lady Rebels past the Raiders in the third-place game.
Miller was named to the all-tournament team after leading all scorers with 44 points. Anita Milons added 12 points for Mississippi (6-2).
Wright State (0-7) got 15 points from Amber Kirk and 12 points and 13 rebounds from Jess Van Der Geest.
Hawaii 62, Santa Clara 51
Lady Broncos (5-2)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Sacco 22 0 6 1 2 0 5 1 Riedman 24 1 3 3 6 7 3 5 Pursley 6 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 Hollowell 34 4 13 1 1 6 3 9 Brantley 29 3 7 2 3 8 1 8 Silacci 35 6 8 3 6 8 3 15 Swank 17 5 10 2 4 4 1 12 Hill 19 0 6 1 2 5 2 1 Rigby 7 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 Hurley 7 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 Team 3 Totals 200 19 56 13 24 43 23 51
Wahine (4-3)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Kotilainen 22 0 1 0 0 3 4 0 Cockett 40 11 21 4 7 3 0 27 Itoman 28 4 10 5 7 2 2 13 Ashby 21 1 3 0 0 5 3 2 Fujimoto 12 0 1 1 2 0 2 1 Liu 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wautlet 17 0 1 2 3 0 4 2 Howard 18 0 2 2 2 2 1 2 Leeburg 40 5 10 5 6 13 3 15 Team 2 Totals 200 21 50 19 27 30 19 62Halftime score-Santa Clara 29, Hawaii 21.
3-point goals-SC 0-9 (Riedman 0-1, Pursley 0-1, Hollowell 0-1, Brantley 0-1, Hill 0-2, Sacco 0-3), UH 1-5 (Cockett 1-2, Kotilainen 0-1, Howard 0-2).
Assists-SC 9 (Riedman 3), UH 9 (Fujimoto 3). Turnovers-SC 20 (Silacci 5), UH 15 (Kotilainen 4). Steals-SC 4 (Silacci 2), UH 12 (Cockett 4). Blocked shots-SC 1 (Brantley 1), UH 4 (Cockett 2).
Technicals-none.
A-867. Officials: Palmer, Hayashi, Kau.
Mississippi 76, Wright State 45
Mississippi: Miller 7-11 3-3 20, Seybert 2-9 0-0 6, Rosamond 2-8 0-0 4, Wysinger 0-1 0-0 0, Adkins 3-7 0-0 8, Sides 4-9 2-4 10, Dobbs 3-6 2-2 8, Milons 4-8 2-2 12, Gadd 0-4 1-2 1, Bethley 2-7 0-0 5, Vollrath 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 27-72 8-9 76.
Wright St.: Bender 2-9 0-0 5, Stiner 1-3 0-0 2, Blanchard 2-9 0-0 5, Bartram 2-8 0-2 4, Bullhead 0-3 0-1 0, Kirk 6-11 3-4 15, Van Der Geest 3-10 6-8 12, Andrews 1-2 0-0 2, Dalbey 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 17-59 9-15 45.
Halftime score-Mississippi 40, Wright State 29.
3-point goals-Miss. 14-36 (Miller 3-5, Adkins 2-3, Sides 2-4, Milons 2-6, Seybert 2-7, Rosamond 2-7, Bethley 1-3, Wysinger 0-1), WSU 2-12 (Bender 1-4, Blanchard 1-6, Kirk 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Miss. 44 (Milons 7), WSU 43 (Van Der Geest 13). Assists-Miss. 19 (Rosamond 5), WSU 10 (Dalbey 3). Total fouls-Miss. 14, WSU 10.
All-Tournament Team
Lisa Miller, Mississippi; Nicole Silacci, Santa Clara;
Kendis Leeburg, BJ Itoman, Nani Cocket (MVP), UH.