Wahine aim to get ahead of the pack

The time to separate is now for the Rainbow Wahine.

Hawaii finds itself amid a pack of early Big West Conference contenders heading into home games this week against UC Davis today and UC Irvine on Saturday.

The Wahine aim for their third straight win against UC Davis, one of five one-loss teams in the nine-team league.

After this week, UH plays four straight games on the mainland.

"To be able to come back home for two games, try to possibly get two wins before going on that long road trip, this is what we need," senior guard Sydney Haydel said.

Since losing its league opener at home to Cal Poly in heartbreaking fashion, coach Laura Beeman’s team stayed in the regular-season hunt by winning 54-44 at home against Cal State Northridge, then 74-61 at UC Riverside last Saturday. Four players scored in double figures in the latter contest, including senior Shawna Kuehu with a career-high 22.

"Everyone contributed in major ways in that win, and it felt like, you know, our old team back after having those losses to Cal Poly and (Southern Cal on Dec. 21)," Haydel said.

The importance of the Big West women’s hoops regular season is greater than in men’s basketball; the top two finishers after 16 games receive a double-bye into the Big West tournament semifinals.

Roster flexibility has paid dividends lately. Junior Morgan Mason has resumed starting point guard duties, shifting the versatile Destiny King to small forward. Junior wing Ashleigh Karaitiana has willingly come off the bench for three straight games. Center Kalei Adolpho isn’t featured in some lineups, but is prominent in others.

"I think it’s great," Mason said. "It makes it harder for the other team to be able to scout us, because on any given night any person on our team can contribute offensively or help with defense or steals or anything."

Karaitiana might resume a starter’s role at any time, Beeman hinted. Only Haydel, Kuehu (last season’s bench sparkplug) and Kamilah Jackson have been season-long regulars among the first five.

"It allows us to do two things," Beeman said of the shifting lineups. "It allows us to match what we anticipate another team doing, or we can make them match us. And it depends on our game plan, where I say ‘Let’s match them and not let them get going’ or ‘You know what, they’re going to have to match us, otherwise we’re going to get going.’ "

UH will try to put off a 1,000-point career celebration for a game. Davis junior forward Sydnee Fipps, a preseason All-Big West selection, is 15 points away from becoming her program’s 16th player to achieve the feat. Fipps is averaging 17.5 ppg this season, third among Big West players.

Game-to-game flexibility is great in practice, but Beeman will still count on a big night from senior forward Jackson (16.3 ppg, 10.4 rpg).

"It comes down to, yeah it’s nice to play at home," Beeman said. "We just have to put two halves together against each one of these teams to be successful against both of them."

Note

Saturday’s game vs. UC Irvine will not be televised, but it will be streamed live at BigWest.TV and broadcast on KHKA (1500-AM).