Wahine ready to rumble

An increase in physicality was generally not necessary for the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine in a successful Big West regular season.

In UH’s first postseason game in a decade, it will be.

The Wahine are expecting a cage match of sorts in today’s matchup at San Diego of the West Coast Conference in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament first round.

"They’re going to be very, very physical. I think the physicality of the game and I think rebounding, it’s going to come down to those two areas," UH coach Laura Beeman said in a Wednesday phone interview from California. "Can we handle the physicality on offense, where we’re not turning the ball over, and are we going to continue to do what we do on the boards, which is compete? Hopefully we can win that battle."

UH isn’t used to being outrebounded, but the Toreros average 41.4 boards per game to UH’s 37.9. Each member of the USD starting five grabs 4.5 rebounds or more.

Perhaps making things more challenging, UH will have to do it without its most physical post player, senior center Stephanie Ricketts. Ricketts, who started the last three games, has graduate school obligations and did not make the road trip. Sophomore Kalei Adolpho likely returns to the starting lineup today.

When the Toreros muscle their way inside for easy baskets, they become tough to stop; they are 19-1 when they shoot a better field-goal percentage than their opponent.

The Wahine need a monster game out of 5-foot-11 junior forward Kamilah Martin, she of the 14 double-doubles on 15.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.

UH arrived in San Diego on Wednesday morning, a good half-day later than it desired because of flight problems leaving Honolulu on Tuesday afternoon.

The Toreros are led by 6-foot junior guard Amy Kame, who averages 15.9 points per game. USD sophomore forward Sophia Ederaine has 54 blocks this season, tying her freshman output.

Ball control could swing the game if UH can take better care than in its 22-turnover outing in the Big West tournament, a 66-51 loss to Cal State Fullerton. Both UH and USD are turnover prone.

"We worked very hard in practice on taking care of the ball," Beeman said. "Hard to score when you don’t have it. The girls know that. … I feel like we’ve gotten better over the past week or two, particularly since the Big West Conference tournament. Gosh, we’ll just see who shows up. It’s going to come down to whether we can handle the physicality, though."

USD has won 10 of 12, with an average scoring margin of plus-10.7 over that span. It had a six-game winning streak snapped by Gonzaga in the WCC tournament championship on March 10.

While the Wahine are making their first postseason appearance since 2003, the Toreros were in the WNIT last year and enjoyed a magical run to the event’s final four, where they lost to eventual champ Oklahoma State.

Should UH win today, it will stay on the road to face the winner of fellow Big West team Long Beach State and Utah sometime between Saturday and Monday in the second round of the 64-team tourney.

UH’s best performance in six previous WNIT appearances came in 2001, when Vince Goo’s bunch advanced to the semifinals as part of a 26-win season.

Backup point guard Marissa Wimbley has missed the last three games for personal medical reasons. She’s considered day-to-day for this one.

UH owns the series with USD 4-0, with the last meeting in 1991.