Wahine have a little swagger as they return to Big West

The battle scars were earned with extra interest.

Now the Hawaii women’s basketball team finds out if its brutal nonconference schedule really paid off. The Rainbow Wahine mark a return to the Big West Conference today after a 16-year absence when they take on Cal State Fullerton at Titan Gym.

UH, formerly of the Western Athletic Conference, staggered through games against powerhouse opponents such as then-No. 1 Baylor and No. 4 Stanford, among others. The difficulties most recently included nearly a month away from official game action through most of December.

But they displayed renewed purpose and confidence in the Bank of Hawaii Invitational over the weekend, going 2-1 with a missed buzzer shot at 3-0.

"The girls are excited, they’re ready to go," first-year UH coach Laura Beeman said. "This is what we’ve been playing preseason for, is to be (ready) in the conference."

UH gets a winnable first game at Cal State Fullerton today. The Wahine were picked to finish in sixth place in the Big West preseason media poll. Fullerton was predicted to finish last. However, the Titans are 4-1 at home.

The Big West isn’t renowned for hoops and isn’t expected to test UH to the same degree as the toughest of its foes to this point. However, the Wahine also must travel much farther than anyone else in the California-based league on a week-to-week basis.

The immediate goal is to win as many games in the 18-game league schedule for the best seeding possible in the conference tournament in Irvine and Anaheim, Calif., in March. The top eight in the 10-team league make it there.

"My mentality is we’re going to contend for the Big West," Beeman said. "We’re going to continue to get better. At what rate? We’ll see. At the rate at which we’re going right now, we’ll be a very, very difficult matchup for people in the Big West. I think this team has a very, very good opportunity to be in the top three, and then from there go into that tournament and it won’t be an upset by that point."

Junior forward Kamilah Martin, a Bay Area native, is the league’s third-leading scorer (15.2 ppg) and second-leading rebounder (10.1 rpg), and is third in field-goal percentage (.496).

Martin has embraced the role of a leader this season. She mostly shied away from attention her first two years in Manoa.

"We’re excited. Going into a new conference, people don’t really expect much of us," said Martin, who has five double-doubles. "We’re definitely excited to go in and get some wins. We’re just excited to go into a new conference and just dominate it."

Junior guard Sydney Haydel, another native of the Golden State, has emerged as a starter with her gritty play the past three games. She was big with 12 points in the 65-63 overtime win over Cincinnati last Saturday.

"I’m excited to be able to play back home in front of family and friends," Haydel said. "Most importantly, I’m excited that we’re in the Big West this year. We’re going to make a statement. We’re going to go out and play hard and give it everything we have."

UH’s versatile freshman Destiny King is questionable for the Cal State Fullerton game after hurting her shoulder last Friday against LIU Brooklyn. She missed the Cincinnati and Alabama games.

UH competed in the Big West in women’s sports from 1984 to 1996. The Wahine, under the program’s winningest coach, Vince Goo, won the Big West regular season twice and made the NCAA tournament four times.

They were 128-74 (.634) in BWC regular-season games.