Sarah Toeaina is embracing the mysterious masked life.
The Hawaii senior captain will wear hard plastic protection on her face for today’s Rainbow Wahine nonconference finale against Hawaii Pacific, and likely sport the mask well into the impending Big West season, after she suffered a nose injury in UH’s lopsided loss to No. 10 Oregon in Las Vegas a little more than a week ago.
UH WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Today, 7 p.m. at Stan Sheriff Center
>> Hawaii Pacific (8-2) at Hawaii (6-6)
>> TV: None
>> Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
Toeaina, UH’s leading scorer at 13.8 points per game, was in a flock of Ducks going for an offensive rebound in the second quarter when a stray elbow came down on the bridge of her nose. She left the game, hung around long enough to wish her team well at halftime, then left for a nearby hospital and treatment in the ER; her breathing was impaired.
“My sister texted me before the (Oregon) game, ‘just try to be the girl Kobe,’ ” Toeaina said Friday, following her first practice since the injury. “This (injury) happened, and she texted me a film of Kobe in his playoff game where he broke his nose, and she said, ‘you took my comment too literal.’ ”
Her swelling has gone down, allowing use of the mask. The accessory felt strange at first, blurring her peripheral vision.
“I got used to it,” she said. “Just going to try to play and not think there’s a mask on my face.”
Any return to normalcy will feel welcome for the Wahine (6-6), who went 1-2 on their difficult holiday road trip. They used a huge late run to win at Arizona, then fell by 40-plus points to ranked foes Texas A&M and Oregon in Vegas.
The Wahine intend to use this game against their Division II neighbor to hammer out defensive shortcomings.
“We still make too many mistakes on both sides of the ball. Especially the defensive end, we’re making too many mistakes with our defensive schemes,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “We’re not getting on the boards like we need to get on the boards. … Offensively I think we’re getting better.”
HPU (8-2) has won four straight. The Sharks get to use this game as an exhibition, while it officially counts for UH.
UH is 8-0 in the series, with the last meeting an 88-54 Wahine win last December.
