Wahine sprint past BYU-Hawaii

Time to graduate to the regular season.

The Hawaii women’s basketball team cleared its preseason workload after schooling a second Division II opponent, Brigham Young-Hawaii, 83-46, in an exhibition before a crowd of 601 on Friday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH jumped out to an 18-0 lead and locked down the Seasiders for minutes at a time. The game, which didn’t count in any official capacity, was never in doubt.

Sophomore guard Kanisha Bello scored 18 points on 4-for-7 shooting from long range and sophomore forward Kamilah Jackson put up 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Wahine. New point guards Alissa Campanero and Jasmine Ray scored 11 points each.

The Rainbow Wahine couldn’t replicate their lights-out shooting in an 88-59 win over Hawaii Pacific last week, but it hardly mattered as they dominated the rebounding battle 55-32, held BYUH under 30 percent shooting most of the game and forced 27 turnovers. Reserve guard Sydney Haydel had five of UH’s 16 steals.

"We all just have to get used to each other and how we play," Bello said. "That’s important in why we play these exhibition games."

Indeed, there are still things to work on. UH committed 18 turnovers and shot 39.7 percent. Hawaii has a week to fine-tune before the regular-season opener Nov. 11 vs. Hawaii-Hilo, but overall ball movement was crisp in the team’s new motion offense.

Coach Dana Takahara-Dias is thankful the team has had one-week recovery periods between its first three games. Once the nonconference season is under way, the Wahine have four tournaments at home with three straight days of games.

"These two exhibition games have been very promising," Takahara-Dias said. "But we are still the consummate perfectionists. We need to go back to the drawing board and tweak and change and tighten up a lot of things."

Shayla Washington and Taylor Mann scored 11 points each to lead BYUH.

The Wahine had only nine players suited up. Sophomore wing Shawna Kuehu pulled a hamstring in practice this week. Guards Malia Cravens (shoulder injury), Ashleigh Karaitiana (NCAA clearance issues) and Vicky Tagalicod (out as a transfer until December) haven’t yet been able to play.