Two road wins behind them, the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team is preparing for challenges awaiting at home.

The Rainbow Wahine make their regular-season debut at the Stan Sheriff Center today against Loyola Marymount, and coach Laura Beeman anticipates a duel of matchups.

"It could be a very interesting game as far as a chess match," Beeman said, "They’re very much improved from last year, have a couple really nice players and we’re going to have to play really well to beat them."

The "Green Out" game scheduled for 7 p.m. will cap the first day of the Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic. Washington State plays Nevada in the 4:30 p.m. opener of the doubleheader. UH and Washington State meet in the tournament finale on Sunday.

The first 200 students at today’s game will receive green T-shirts.

"Can’t wait to play in front of our home crowd," Beeman said. "I know they’re going to bring great energy."

The Rainbow Wahine held off LMU 85-76 last December in Los Angeles and enter the rematch at 2-0 following road wins at Grand Canyon and Northern Arizona, with their height advantage leading to a combined 45-34 rebounding advantage.

In scouting LMU, Beeman noted the Lions’ pace and 3-point shooting. LMU has made 18 of 49 3-point attempts in losses to Colorado (91-82) and Cal State Fullerton (75-73). By comparison, UH has taken 25 shots from 3-point range and made seven. Senior guard Sophie Taylor hit six of 11 3-point shots and averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in LMU’s first two games.

"They’re going to be a little bit of a matchup problem for us," Beeman said. "We’re going to have to defend the perimeter with our bigs or we’re going to have to go small. So we’re looking at different lineups right now.

"The biggest thing is their pace in the fullcourt and halfcourt — they really get up and down."

UH shot 42 percent during last week’s road trip and got ample production off the bench, with guard/forward Sarah Toeaina scoring 14 points in both games and forward Megan Huff averaging 9.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in 17 minutes per game.

As for the starters, Destiny King scored 13 points against Northern Arizona to help the Wahine fend off a fourth-quarter comeback, and fellow senior Ashleigh Karaitiana leads the team with nine assists.

Upon returning to campus, the Wahine focused on sharpening their execution on both ends of the floor and "just running our stuff correctly," Beeman said.

"Setting screens better, reading screens better, and defensively we’re playing about a six out of 10. We’re just not there," Beeman said. "Their effort’s fantastic. It’s just we’re not being efficient, we’re not being aware."

On Sunday, UH will face a Washington State team that finished last season in the WNIT. The Cougars were picked 10th in the preseason Pac-12 poll and former Konawaena standout Lia Galdeira left after last season to turn pro.

The Cougars (2-0) return another former Wildcat in senior guard Dawnyelle Awa, and freshman forward Borislava Hristova led WSU with 17.5 points per game in wins over UC Santa Barbara and Hampton.

"(Galdeira’s) an amazing player, but they did a good job of filling her shoes with different styles," Beeman said. "They have a lot of international players, all of them have the ability to go inside out. I think we’re going to see a little bit more pressure defense. We’re going to see bigs bigger than ours, and we’re going to have to play very well against them."