Hawai'i guard Dalia Solia was a little wary after struggling in the first half last night against Boise State.

It got to the point where the junior told her teammates she didn't want to shoot, but they encouraged her to keep firing away. Good thing she listened.

Solia scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half as Hawai'i beat Boise State, 72-67, last night before 624 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawai'i improved to 14-8 overall and 5-6 in the Western Athletic Conference. Boise State fell to 12-11 and 4-7.

Solia was 1 for 6 from the field in the first half and missed her first two shots in the second.

"To tell you the truth I didn't want to shoot anymore, but my teammates told me to keep shooting," Solia said.

Solia finished 6 of 14 from the field and 4 of 8 from 3-point range.

"She's capable of doing that," Hawai'i head coach Jim Bolla said. "Even though she's 5-9, she plays like a 6-3 player. She shoots the ball well, and we ran that spread offense at the end we call motion and it gave her a lot of jumpers at the elbow, which she's really good at doing."

Hawai'i suffered a big loss when center Brittany Grice fouled out with 15:28 left and the Rainbows trailing 41-37.

"I thought when Grice went out it was to our advantage," Boise State head coach Gordy Presnell said. "We were up when she was playing, but it wasn't."

Solia scored eight consecutive points, including consecutive 3-pointers, as Hawai'i went up 48-44 with 12:50 left.

"When I hit my first shot that helped a lot," said Solia, who scored 22 in a loss to Fresno State on Thursday. "If I keep shooting it will drop eventually and I can get my confidence back."

Hawai'i junior Pam Tambini was one of the players who told her to keep shooting.

"She said, 'I don't want to shoot anymore,' " Tambini said. "But we told her keep shooting, you're bound to hit one and it's like a chain reaction."

Tambini added 14 points, Amy Sanders had 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Janevia Taylor finished with 11 points.

Hawai'i led by seven twice midway through the second half, but Nadia Begay tied it at 58 with a 3-pointer with 4:55 left.

Begay started for Broncos leading scorer Jessica Thompson (14.1 ppg), who didn't make the trip because of illness. Begay, a junior, finished with 28 points.

The Rainbows answered with an 11-3 run to take their largest lead at 69-61 with 1:30 left.

Hawai'i, which averaged 20.4 turnovers entering the game, committed a season-low 10.

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.