Things looked promising for the first 10 minutes.

Everything unraveled after that for the Hawaii women's basketball team, as Washington State won going away, 66-48, before a gathering of 139 yesterday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Wahine (2-8) jumped out to a 14-3 lead against the Pac-10 Cougars (7-2). But the early momentum was squandered in a flurry of misses and turnovers as WSU rallied to win its fifth straight game and first in five tries against UH.

Whatever good was accomplished in the early going was erased completely by a drought of epic proportions coming out of intermission. Hawaii went scoreless for more than 10 minutes to start the second half and WSU pulled away for a double-digit lead it wouldn't relinquish.

“;We're a work in progress, and we're going to continue to work at it,”; said Hawaii coach Jim Bolla. “;This is the game that we start off really well, and let it slip away from us.”;

A 32-12 Wahine advantage in the paint was nullified by the Cougars' combined 51 points in second-chance opportunities and scoring off Hawaii turnovers. WSU outrebounded UH 54-39 and grabbed a whopping 26 on the offensive end.

The freewheeling Cougars also set a school and UH opponent record for 3-point attempts with 37. They made only 11—leading to 29.6 percent overall shooting for the game compared to 37 percent for UH—but it didn't matter, as the Wahine couldn't find any consistent offense, with just 10 assists against 23 turnovers.

Keisha Kanekoa scored all of her 12 points in the first half, while center Sarah Ilic returned from a concussion to post 16 off the bench.

“;We had a quick start, could have put them away,”; said Kanekoa, who had no turnovers at halftime but finished with seven. “;Then they had that spurt where we weren't doing good, and then we didn't pick ourselves up and come back.”;

The Cougars absorbed Hawaii's early strikes and exploded for an 18-2 surge fueled by four 3-pointers to regain the lead. WSU led only 32-28 at halftime as the Wahine took reasonable care of the ball.

WSU coach June Daugherty ordered her team into a zone defense coming out of intermission and the Wahine couldn't solve it until it was too late. Dita Liepkalne broke the drought on a layup with 9 minutes, 41 seconds left and Hawaii trailing 47-30.

Kanekoa and Ilic seemed to agree with Bolla's postgame message about the team's lack of effort and hustle.

“;We're just gonna go harder and stronger, and know that we've all got each other's backs in the game no matter what,”; Ilic said.

Hawaii has a rare opportunity to deal a loss right back, as the teams play again on Monday at 5 p.m.