Wahine working on team chemistry

Add one. Subtract two.

It’s no wonder that Hawaii ended up in the negative on its Big West basketball road trip last week. The Rainbow Wahine gained freshman center Megan Huff a month after her first collegiate volleyball season ended, but were never able to get two injured guards off the bench when losing at Cal Poly and CSUN.

Hawaii hopes to get one back — senior scoring leader Shawna-Lei Kuehu — for its first Big West home game Saturday against UC Riverside. The other — freshman Sarah Toeaina — might not return until mid-February, at the earliest.

All Wahine coach Laura Beeman can do is keep adjusting the lineup because of the injuries. And re-adjust the lineup because of foul trouble. And re-adjust if the combination isn’t working.

"We’re fighting with chemistry because we haven’t had a consistent lineup due to injuries and fouls and whatnot," Beeman said. "We’re fighting with chemistry because of the insertion of Megan Huff, which is a good problem to have but still a chemistry problem.

"I’m OK with the two losses because I don’t think we’re playing great basketball. It wasn’t the outcome I wanted from the road but I’m OK with it as long as we keep growing and improving."

The quirky Big West schedule has Hawaii playing just one game this week — which has been designated a "Black-Out Night for fans — while UC Riverside flew in Friday after its loss at UC Davis on Thursday. The Rainbow Wahine need that extra rest against the Highlanders’ unorthodox, somewhat frenetic-paced, four-guard offense.

Hawaii’s injuries, which include senior guard Morgan Mason (knee), have depleted the depth at that position. The Wahine had been able to platoon their guard-oriented lineup, rotating fresh players to keep up the aggressive man-to-man defense.

Now, Hawaii likely will show a lot of zone — variations of which are mostly drawn up on Beeman’s napkins or in her head, as she likes to joke.

"I like to mix up the zones but don’t ask me to explain them," she said. "The good thing is the players know what I want."

The question, however, is execution on offense. The Wahine shot 31 percent from the floor at Cal Poly and 28 percent at defending champion and previously Big West unbeaten CSUN (The Mustangs dropped their first conference game of the year Thursday to visiting Long Beach State.)

One encouraging sign has been Huff, who is 11 days into her basketball career. The 6-foot-3 center had team-highs of 15 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots in her first start last Saturday against the Matadors.

"I just want us to play well so we can compete for something," Beeman said. "Right now we’re competing for fifth place unless we get it together. That’s a scary place to be."

Mosley-McAfee’s jersey to be retired

Hawaii’s alumnae game has been moved to Jan. 31 at 2 p.m. The Rainbow Wahine host CSUN at 5 p.m.

During a ceremony that day, Hawaii will retire its first jersey in women’s basketball — that of the late Judy Mosley-McAfee, the program’s all-time scoring and rebounding leader, and two-time All-American. Mosley-McAfee died in 2013 at age 45 after a three-year battle with cancer.