Last season, debuting University of Hawaii women’s basketball coach Laura Beeman probably deserved to be the coach of the year in the Big West Conference.

This season she looks to be doing an even better job.

Here the Rainbow Wahine (15-11, 9-5 conference) are smack dab in the middle of the Big West championship race tied for second place with Cal Poly, one game behind leader Cal State Northridge (10-4) with two games remaining. All despite being without their most outstanding player, Kamilah Jackson, for the past four games.

Jackson leads the team in scoring and rebounding, among other categories. To put her absence in perspective, that is, on average, 23 percent of the Rainbow Wahine’s scoring punch and rebounding production cooling her sprained foot on the bench for at least one-fourth of the conference season.

That would be akin to the Rainbow Warriors playing without Christian Standhardinger for four games in prime time. And we all have a pretty good idea what that might mean for the ‘Bows. 

Yet, the Rainbow Wahine still have a mathematical shot at the school’s first women’s basketball title since 1997-98 and are looking at the prospect of a second consecutive postseason appearance, something not accomplished in more than a decade.  

The considerable job of keeping the Rainbow Wahine together and forging a revamped winning lineup for this conference stretch run with a 3-1 record in Jackson’s absence is just a part of what is laudable about Beeman’s stewardship this season.

There is also the decision to sit Jackson in the first place at this important juncture. It can’t have been an easy choice to make or to steadfastly maintain sometimes when you are in a close game and see Jackson sitting there on the bench within beckoning range.

Especially should the Rainbow Wahine have dropped precipitously in the standings as a result. UH’s safety net in case it doesn’t win the conference and accompanying NCAA bid has been the Women’s NIT. A second- or third-place finish in the Big West would probably guarantee that for UH based upon its top-100 strength of schedule. But a fall to fourth or fifth place in the tightly bunched conference might be different.

Still, Beeman has held to a decision that she said is rooted in what is best for Jackson and the team. 

"I want her to be able to play on Senior Night (on Thursday), I want her to be able to play one last game in front of these fans," Beeman said. "But, me and this team, our goal all along has been, first and foremost, to win the conference and get into the (NCAA) tournament."

 The thought being: Why gamble on getting Jackson back for, perhaps, a game or two now and risk not having her for the rapidly approaching Big West tournament (March 13-16)?

Beeman has another way of looking at it, too: "The better that we play without her means the better we can play when we insert her back in the lineup. It is only going to make us a (stronger) better team."

Something Beeman is proving pretty adept at in two seasons at UH, whatever the challenges.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.