Toeaina honored but focused on CSUN

FULLERTON, Calif. >> Hawaii has a Big West first-teamer. Now the Rainbow Wahine try to become the first team to accomplish the near-impossible — winning four games in five days in the Big West tournament.

No team has done that in the current format, in which the lowest four seeds — including No. 8 Hawaii — must defeat half of the field, including the elite who get the benefit of byes, to claim the conference championship and earn an automatic NCAA tournament berth.

UH (12-17, 5-11 BWC), led by repeat first-team guard Sarah Toeaina, takes on fifth-seeded Cal State Northridge (15-15, 8-8), led by repeat player of the year Channon Fluker, at Cal State Fullerton today in the first game of the tourney.

Fluker, a 6-foot-4 junior center, is the second player in league history to lead in rebounding and blocks in consecutive seasons, and only the fifth to earn back-to-back POY nods.

Toeaina’s distinction for UH is just as rare. She is just the fourth Wahine player to receive multiple first-team honors in a career, after Judy Mosley, Nani Cockett and Raylene Howard. Mosley was the only other to do it in the Big West.

Toeaina, the 11th-highest scorer in program history, thanked the league and her coaches, teammates and family for the award, which was the only one bestowed on UH this year.

Then she adopted a steely expression.

“You know, I’m not going to let that get (to) my head,” Toeaina said. “I understand that even getting it last year, we still lost to CSUN. We want to get them back this year and not use that as something to just settle back on, but more fuel to the fire.”

Fresh off a 67-61 senior night loss to Cal Poly, UH had to fly out to the mainland on a quick turnaround Sunday. It didn’t help that its flight was delayed on the way out and the Wahine arrived in Los Angeles late that night. The team tried to shake off weariness in a Monday afternoon practice at Titan Gym, site of the first two rounds.

“We know what it feels like to try to run the plane off,” Toeaina said. “We did some drills to get up and down today. We really needed it.”

They’ll need everything they have against Fluker, a player UH solved just enough in the teams’ last meeting, Feb. 22 at the Matadome, when she was “held” to 24 points and 12 rebounds.

Fluker is averaging 26.5 and 10.7 in her seven career games against Hawaii. The 6-foot-4 junior’s career high, 39, came at UH’s expense in last year’s Big West second round. Her season high, 34, came at the Stan Sheriff Center in a 70-58 Matadors win on Jan. 25.

Freshman bigs Lauren Rewers and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard are charged with bodying up Fluker and keeping her off the glass as much as possible. Last time, UH collapsed on her more aggressively than usual.

“Lauren and Mackenzie are going to be huge, because they’ve got a big body that can go against Fluker, which is great,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “You don’t stop Channon, you can only try to slow her down a little bit and make other people have to score. They’re going to be ready for that. Their shooters are going to shoot the ball and she’s going to be a beast on the boards.”

Toeaina (6.1 rebounds) and forward Kenna Woodfolk (6.2) must have a hand there as well.

The 6-3 Clinch Hoycard, sometimes a perimeter shooter on offense, will try to draw Fluker from the hoop during her court time.

“Especially if they stay in a zone matchup, as she’s the middle player, I can stretch out the zone a little bit, open it up, room for guards to cut and just have little dishes inside and stuff,” she said.

UH can ill afford one of its frequent offensive droughts, such as the one that saw it fall behind 19-3 on Saturday.

Besides Toeaina (16.2 points per game), UH needs strong performances from rotation regulars Woodfolk (9.0), Lahni Salanoa (8.7) and Julissa Tago (9.3) if it is to stay alive for its second tournament title in three years.

Woodfolk had a career-high 27 points against UC Santa Barbara last week and point guard Tia Kanoa (4.9 apg) is tied with BJ Itoman for third in UH single-season assists at 142.

“They’ve had a lot of success in years past and they have pieces on this team,” CSUN coach Jason Flowers said. “Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing and giving it time to jell. They’ve gotten better as the year has gone on. … On our end we’re not looking at it as anything but a challenge and we’re expecting a hard-fought game.”

Junior wing Leah Salanoa is listed as day to day with an unspecified injury.