For UH, playing well is the thing

Mum’s the word.

Just as the dugout doesn’t speak to a pitcher about his no-hitter, the same goes for the Hawaii women’s basketball team regarding its streak.

For the Big West-leading Rainbow Wahine, it’s nine wins and NOT counting. All Hawaii is concerned with is keeping it going, whatever the number.

“I never started counting,” senior forward Shawlina Segovia said. “We know we haven’t lost in a while.

“We feel like Hawaii has a lot to prove. That makes us the hungrier team because we’re not ready to lose.”

For those keeping score at home, Hawaii has its longest winning streak since the 1997-98 squad won 19 in a row under coach Vince Goo. The Rainbow Wahine can match their best conference start — that of 10-2 in 2000-01 — with a victory over UC Irvine Thursday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

In the last meeting with the Anteaters on Jan. 24, Hawaii walked out of the Bren Events Center after an 85-50 rout with five players scoring in double figures. Given UC Irvine’s last performance — the Anteaters pulled off a minor upset, outlasting UC Riverside in overtime — the Rainbow Wahine are happy to be playing this one at home, where they are 5-0 in Big West contests.

“We’re glad to be back,” said Hawaii coach Laura Beeman, who celebrated her 50th win at Manoa with last Thursday’s victory at UC Riverside. “It felt like a long trip. We had players struggling with the flu and some games are not going to be easy because they’re on the road and because we’re tired.

“The best part of this season is that, on any given night, anyone can get it done. We can pound the ball inside, we can get 3s from anyone. And yes, Megan (freshman center Huff) has the green light. We’re finding different people to step up and it makes it difficult to scout.”

In 24 games, Hawaii has had nine different scoring leaders. Equally impressive, there have been eight different rebounding leaders, which has Hawaii atop the Big West in rebounding margin — plus-10.5 overall (25th nationally) and plus-7.6 overall.

The Anteaters, looking to win two in a row for the first time this season, feature the reigning conference player of the week in sophomore forward Mokun Fajemisin. The 6-foot sophomore forward turned in her seventh double-double of the year with a career-high 21 points and game-high 13 rebounds in the 76-72 overtime win against the Highlanders.

Aiding in the big win over UCR was the performance by junior point guard Raelyn Cheung-Sutton, who had a career-high 13 points. She also had four rebounds as the Anteaters were plus-10 against the Highlanders; Hawaii was plus-22 last Thursday at UCR in a 72-69 win.

But that was last week and “the streak” is back down to zero.

“I only know it’s nine in a row because others mention it,” Beeman said. “For us, it’s not about that. It’s not about getting that 10th straight. It’s about getting that Big West title and however many wins that it takes for us to get that.

“What I like about getting that win (Saturday) at Fullerton is that we had not played well there. It gave us a little confidence in that arena.”

The Big West tournament opens at Titan Gym March 10 and 11 before moving to the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., for the semifinals March 13 and final March 14

Hawaii hosts UC Davis Saturday before a quirky schedule that has a single game next Thursday at Long Beach State then two games the following week: at UC Santa Barbara March 5 and the regular-season finale at home against Cal State Fullerton March 7.