Alumnae game a morale booster

Hawaii women’s basketball coaches Dana Takahara-Dias and Da Houl won’t be the only ones making a quick change in today’s Rainbow Wahine alumnae game.

Former players Nani Cockett and Megan Tinnin will join in the 5 p.m. festivities, then hop into a proverbial phone booth to ready themselves as analysts for Oceanic Sports’ 7 p.m. broadcast of the UH game against Utah State.

Cockett, one of the all-time Wahine greats, will play in the lighthearted game for the first time since Takahara-Dias started it up in her first year as coach in 2009-10.

"I have no idea what it’s going to be like. Last year I watched the game, and it was pretty funny," Cockett said. "I’m just hoping that I don’t make a fool out of myself."

About 40 former Wahine players will be at the game, with about half that number expected to play — including Takahara-Dias and Houl. The rosters range from the first generation in the mid-1970s to players of recent vintage, such as Tinnin and former point guard Keisha Kanekoa. Manoa chancellor Virginia Hinshaw and associate athletic director Marilyn Moniz-Kahoohanohano will coach the Green and White squads.

"We’re just excited that we’re able to get alums from all different decades to come and participate," Takahara-Dias said. "You’re not going to find the sharpness or crispness of what it used to look like, but we’ll just have great fellowship and camaraderie, and hopefully people will laugh with us and not at us."

The Wahine could use a spiritual boost; they are coming off a 69-61 home loss to Idaho in which the Vandals stormed back from 18 points down in the second half. The going will get no easier against Utah State in the middle of the current three-game homestand.

"It’s a good time for our alumnae to get together, too, and to support the current team," Cockett said. "I’ve been following them. It’s a good time for their morale to be lifted, too."

Cockett, second on the career scoring list with 1,866 points (1994-98), has kept up her game in recent years with the D. One all-star squad. Tinnin and Cockett are Nos. 1 and 2 on the Wahine career 3-point list.

"I think it’s really cool that so many people participate in this event," said Tinnin, a player last season. "I feel honored just to be able to. It will be cool to see people that were part of the team when I was a freshman. Some I haven’t really seen in a while. It will be a good time, a good experience."

The Utah State game is also part of the "Play 4Kay" initiative for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund for breast cancer awareness, formerly the "Pink Zone" game.