The road to December perfection runs through Las Vegas — and likely Megan Huff — for the Hawaii women’s basketball team.
A 5-0 month is the stated goal of Laura Beeman and her Rainbow Wahine (3-7), who’ve embarked on a three-game road trip over the Christmas holiday. So far this month, they have home wins over Idaho and Hawaii Pacific, but neither came easily.
“It hasn’t changed at all,” forward Kenna Woodfolk (team bests of 14.0 points and 6.4 rebounds per game) said of the mission. “(Going) 3-0 on this road trip.”
An unblemished month can’t happen without UH winning the two-game Duel in the Desert, beginning at 10 a.m. today against host UNLV (1-8) at Cox Pavilion, followed by either Utah (9-0) or Florida (3-7) on Friday.
“Big games for us,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “We know this is a much different tournament with some different monsters in there. I feel like we’re playing better, but now we gotta put it on the court.”
UH WOMEN’S BASKETBALLDuel in the Desert at Las Vegas
>> Today: Hawaii (3-7) at UNLV (1-8), 10 a.m.
>> Friday: Hawaii vs. Florida (3-7) or Utah (9-0), Time TBA
>> Video streaming: FloHoops.com
>> Also: UH at Nevada (2-7), noon Dec. 29
Utah looms as a compelling matchup in a potential tournament final if the Wahine can get past the athletic Rebels. The Utes boast the 6-foot-3 forward Huff, a former Wahine standout who transferred to Salt Lake City after helping UH win the 2016 Big West championship.
Behind Huff (20.9 ppg, 9.1 rpg), a fifth-year senior, the Utes have won every game by double figures. Huff grew from Big West sixth woman of the year (2015-16) to an All-Pac-12 first-teamer (2017-18) after sitting out a season. In addition, former UH assistant Gavin Petersen is Lynne Roberts’ top assistant on the Utah staff. To top it off, in 2015 Beeman was on the short list of candidates for the Utah job that ultimately went to Roberts.
Florida is the other possible foe, if the Gators of the SEC upset the Utes on Thursday or if UNLV proves too much for UH.
“If we play Utah and Megan, that’ll be a tough game,” Beeman said. “Megan Huff is an outstanding player. There were no hard feelings when that child left. I mean, I love that kid. I didn’t want her to go, but I understood the reasons why. She wanted to be closer to home. She came here to play volleyball, not basketball. She has become a very, very good player. In the Pac-12, against great matchups, she plays well. Against lower-level opponents, she plays outstanding.
“She’s a great person. I’m not going to say who I want to see, whether it’s Florida or Utah, but you never want to see someone like Megan Huff.”
The Wahine haven’t played to their potential (16.2 turnovers per game), but they recently got senior forward Lahni Salanoa back from a foot injury. She hit a buzzer-beating 3 at the end of a quarter against both Idaho and HPU.
“I was tired of sitting and watching,” Salanoa said. “I was kind of iffy, it just felt like I wasn’t 100 percent. But now I feel like I’m there. I’m just focused on helping my team.”
Salanoa said she considers her former teammate Huff a good friend.
“She’s gotten better. She’s a really good player,” she said. “It’d be fun. It’d be challenging, too.”
After the Duel in the Desert, the Wahine players will disperse to be with their families for Christmas, then reconvene for their last game of the trip, and their nonconference finale, against the Nevada Wolf Pack in Reno on Dec. 29.
