Even during a rare break from competition, Kalei Adolpho couldn’t stay away from the court completely.

In the interim between ending her career with the University of Hawaii volleyball team and rejoining the Rainbow Wahine basketball program, Adolpho spent some of her down time officiating intramural games on campus last spring.

“Definitely eye opening, different,” Adolpho said of her stint as a referee. “Being a player you think you know the game and all its ins and outs, but ref’s another ballgame.”

So would she consider wearing stripes after finishing off her playing days?

“Nope, nope, not something I want to do,” she said, professing a newfound respect for the job.

Later that summer, Adolpho returned to her more familiar on-court role.

After juggling volleyball and basketball her first three years of college, Adolpho chose to split up her senior seasons. She focused on volleyball in the fall of 2014, earning first-team All-Big West honors as a middle hitter, and sat out the basketball season as a redshirt.

She picked up basketball again last summer, and with a full preseason to hone her game, the 6-foot-1 center is averaging 7.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 48 percent from the field entering tonight’s Big West contest against UC Davis at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Her production has helped the Wahine (15-9, 8-3 Big West) rise into a second-place tie with the Aggies (15-9, 8-3).

“When Kalei and I talked after her junior year of basketball we really kind of summed it up as you can be good at two or great at one and she understood that,” UH basketball coach Laura Beeman said.

“I have to credit Kalei that when she was allowed to get on the floor she was spending every possible moment with (assistant coach) Alex Delanian working on her game … and doing all the things that were going to make her a better player.”

Adolpho’s summers and falls had previously been dedicated to volleyball and she made a quick transition to basketball in December after the season. Toward the end of her junior year of basketball, her minutes dwindled and she averaged 1.2 points and 2.8 rebounds.

Delaying her senior year allowed her a chance to recharge for a semester and develop her basketball skills heading into her final year as a UH student-athlete.

“I just had the understanding that I had time to take it slow,” Adolpho said. “It kind of felt like the last three years everything was rushed, you had to pick this up, no real time for personal development.”

The added polish on her game led to a starting job in the post for the first 20 games this season and has her ranked among the conference leaders in field-goal percentage for much of the season.

A state champion in three sports at Molokai High School, Adolpho led the Farmers to the Division II state basketball championship as a sophomore in 2009 and a runner-up finish the following year. She became Molokai’s first female athlete to earn a Division I scholarship when she signed with UH and tonight’s game will be her 199th in a Rainbow Wahine uniform.

Now a graduate student, experience has taught Adolpho to savor the games she has left.

“I think having gone through a senior season already, you kind of know what to really try to enjoy,” she said. “Having played a senior year of volleyball I know I really missed those team moments. So now in basketball I really try to soak it up and really live in those moments.”