Wahine’s Toeaina driven by optimism

When Sarah Toeaina needs a lift, she needs only to look down.

A piece of tape on the University of Hawaii sophomore’s left ankle brace bears the acronym SGGH, a reminder of a cue her father would use to keep her focused during her club and high school basketball years.

"If I made a bad play or if I had a really bad turnover, I’d hear my dad yell ‘SGGH,’ " Toeaina explained. "So I knew, next play ‘Something good’s gonna happen.’ "

Toeaina — the daughter of two former UH athletes — continues to lean on that perspective in her Rainbow Wahine career and has provided positive results when summoned off the bench in UH’s first two games of the season.

The versatile guard/forward led the Rainbow Wahine with 14 points in both of UH’s wins at Grand Canyon and Northern Arizona last weekend. She’s connected on 10 of her 18 field-goal attempts entering this weekend’s Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic, including two 3-pointers, and distributed five assists in the road sweep.

The Wahine make their Stan Sheriff Center debut on Friday against Loyola Marymount and face Washington State on Sunday.

Born in San Francisco and raised in Washington, Toeaina’s arrival last year was a homecoming of sorts.

Her father, Andrew Toeaina, was an All-State defensive lineman at Saint Louis in 1987 and attended City College of San Francisco before transferring to UH, where he met Maile Golden, a member of the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team from 1988 to ’91.

The couple moved to the West Coast in 1994 and trips to Hawaii were a regular part of their daughters’ summers. Sarah recalled visiting the UH campus when her parents would stop by the coaches offices, "but it never crossed my mind that I could be playing here one day."

That is until she received a call from then-UH assistant coach Wendy Anae.

"I remember at church we were backstage and I ran to my dad and I was like ‘listen to the voicemail’ and it said ‘University of Hawaii’ and he just had a big smile on his face," Toeaina said.

A three-sport standout at Kentwood High School, Sarah chose to pursue basketball in college, and "for Hawaii to be an opportunity means a lot," Maile Toeaina said in a phone interview.

Even so, they made sure the ultimate decision would be Sarah’s alone. Once she committed, they prepared her for the prominence UH athletes hold in the community and "they’re always a phone call away. If I have any questions or if I’m just having a bad day they help me out of it," Sarah Toeaina said.

Their encouragement helped her through a rough patch last season when a strained hamstring kept her out of nine games during the Big West schedule. Even when she returned, her leg wasn’t firing at 100 percent. But an offseason of treatment and rehab has her playing with full confidence again.

"She’s kind of relaxing, she’s not over thinking it, she’s really letting the game come to her," UH coach Laura Beeman said. "She has great effort and just a ‘go’ motor. We are definitely seeing the benefits of a healthy Sarah."

She also got a boost for the season opener when her mother surprised her at dinner last Thursday in Phoenix, Ariz.

"From talking with her and from her texts back and forth it sounded like there was a little bit of home she needed," Maile Toeaina said.

Sarah said seeing her mom in the stands before the Grand Canyon game gave her a sense of calm and, perhaps, a notion that indeed something good was about to happen.