Wahine can clinch Big West title

Share the love. Share the minutes. Share the winning.

And, if all goes according to plan on Thursday, share a conference championship.

A victory at Long Beach State would not only extend Hawaii’s winning streak to 12, it would clinch at least a tie for the Big West crown with next week’s two games remaining. Should second-place UC Davis lose against visiting Cal Poly, also on Thursday, the Rainbow Wahine would secure the title outright.

"Our common goal is a championship," freshman forward Dalayna Sampton said. "We don’t talk about the streak. It’s not our thing. Our thing is we don’t like to lose.

"We want to win out, go into the Big West tournament with a comfortable seed and show everyone what Hawaii basketball is all about."

For the past two months it has been about balance and unselfishness. Last Saturday’s season-high crowd of 1,989 saw that in scoring and minutes: three players were in double figures, all 10 scored and eight of the 10 had 17 minutes or more.

"This is a very special group," Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said. "Maybe if we weren’t winning, we wouldn’t have these young ladies OK with coming off the bench. And it takes a unique group to be doing what we’re doing.

"Leadership starts at the top, and when you have someone the caliber of Shawna-Lei (sixth-year senior guard Kuehu) saying she wants to come off the bench, there’s not a girl on this team who is going to say, ‘I should start’ because I’ll tell them, ‘Look who’s on the bench before you say that.’ "

Hawaii embarked Tuesday on quite the frequent-flyer trip. Courtesy of the quirky schedule, the Wahine play at Long Beach State on Thursday, return home Friday, head back out on the road Tuesday for the March 5 game at UC Santa Barbara, then are back home for the regular-season finale against Cal State Fullerton on March 7. Then there is the Big West tournament the following week that is split between Titan Gym and the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

The travel is what it is and "our coaching staff has us locked in and focused on each game as it comes," junior guard Destiny King said. "We’re focused on playing our game, being Hawaii and not being someone else."

As sure as Hawaii is of itself, the Wahine aren’t sure what kind of team Long Beach State will put on the floor. The 49ers, who had a torrid 13-1 nonconference start, have lost their past two, courtesy of injury and illness. The Beach fell to Cal Poly 58-57 in overtime on Feb. 14 at The Pyramid, then gave up 17 3-pointers at UC Davis when it had just six players available in an 83-66 loss.

"Long Beach always is very competitive and has a winning attitude," Beeman said. "It’s a tough place to play and they always have good crowds. But we’ll probably have 200-300 of our fans there.

"We usually play well there and I’m convinced that we’ll see eight to nine players against us."

Hawaii has won three straight against The Beach, including 72-64 on Jan. 29 at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Wahine also were victorious in last year’s Big West tournament quarterfinal game held in The Pyramid.

It’s unclear who will be available for the 49ers on Thursday. Their leading scorer, Raven Benton (11.5 ppg); leading rebounder, Devin Hudson (7.0 rpg); and reserve Jewelyn Sawyer were injured during the loss to Cal Poly. Junior guard Chantel Dooley has missed three straight because of injury and freshman guard Jess Gertz was out sick against Davis.

"Long Beach has always given us a good game," said King, a Long Beach Poly High graduate. "We’re ready to keep it going."