It didn’t take long for Destiny King’s shooting stroke to heat up in the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team’s Green vs. White scrimmage at the Stan Sheriff Center on Friday.
The senior drained a 3-pointer on her first shot of the intrasquad scrimmage and finished the night with 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting to lead the White to a 48-47 win in the public debut for the Rainbow Wahine.
Fellow senior Ashleigh Karaitiana led the Green with 12 points and Sarah Toeaina added 11 to help cut an early 13-point deficit to one late in the scrimmage. The Green had two possessions in the final 30 seconds, but the White managed to hold on.
Center Kalei Adolpho scored the Green’s first five points and finished the night with seven points and 11 rebounds in her return to basketball after taking last season off. Megan Huff scored nine points with six rebounds for the White.
The scrimmage was played under the NCAA’s new 10-minute quarter format, and with limited benches, the Wahine called it a night after the third quarter.
With associate coach Mary Wooley running the White team and assistant Alex Delanian coaching the Green, head coach Laura Beeman spent most of the evening interacting with fans. She did note a lack of execution on defense at times, but was pleased with the effort on the court as the Wahine look to build on a 23-9 season.
"I think they approached this with the right mentality. I think they approached it wanting to play hard but also wanting to show the fans, ‘This is who we are, come out and watch us,’ " Beeman said, repeating the last phrase for emphasis while looking into a camera in the interview room.
"I think that’s what they wanted to do and that’s what they did. We have a lot of fun. A lot to clean up, but we’re exactly where were supposed to be right now. In the next two weeks, we’re going to get better because we have to get better. More than that, they want to get better and that makes it really fun."
There was one injury in the scrimmage when freshman Lahni Salanoa suffered a gash on her hand that will require stitches in the first quarter and did not return.
The Wahine will take the weekend off and get back to work on Monday in preparation for an exhibition game against UH Hilo on Wednesday at the Sheriff Center. They’ll then have two more weeks before the Nov. 13 season opener at Grand Canyon.
