Wahine rout UC Davis to reach NCAAs
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii center Kalei Adolpho battles with UC Davis forward Celia Marfone during the first half of an NCAA women’s college basketball championship game of the Big West conference tournament today in Anaheim, Calif.
ANAHEIM, CALIF. >> The Hawaii women’s basketball team ended a nearly two-decade NCAA tournament drought by defeating UC Davis 78-59 in the Big West tournament championship game today.
About half of the announced crowd of 1,523 at the Honda Center were UH fans on hand to see the Rainbow Wahine (21-10) celebrate their first NCAA-clinching win since 1998.
Fourth-year coach Laura Beeman became the first UH coach besides Vince Goo to earn such a victory. The Rainbow Wahine lost to Cal State Northridge in the 2015 Big West title game and settled for a third straight trip to the WNIT after that loss.
“This is a team that, we believed in our process,” Beeman said. “Not from the beginning, but from a point that when we all committed and continued to work through that process, it has paid great dividends for us. So very, very pleased and happy for these young ladies.”
It will be the program’s sixth trip to the NCAAs overall. UH will find out its region, seeding and opponent on Monday.
Second-seeded UH shot 50 percent from the field and won the rebounding battle 47-29 as it routed a conference opponent for the second time in as many days, following up Friday’s 76-60 defeat of Long Beach State.
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Senior Ashleigh Karaitiana shot 5-for-9 on 3s and scored 17 points en route to tournament MVP honors, while senior Destiny King joined her on the all-tournament team after posting eight points and seven assists.
“I don’t think it was the (program history that drove us), I think it was our history of last year,” Karaitiana said. “We were in this game, and we got the result we didn’t want or expect. This year we were more prepared, we knew what we need to do and we took care of that on the floor tonight.”
Guard Briana Harris added 13 points and forward Megan Huff 10 in the victory. Center Kalei Adolpho had nine points and nine rebounds.
The UH men’s basketball team will take on Long Beach State at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2 for its own chance at a Big West tourney title with an NCAA appearance at stake.
30 responses to “Wahine rout UC Davis to reach NCAAs”
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No KA OI! Great season, good luck in the tourney .
I love my Beeman. UH’s best coach by far!
it was Fate………………………Yanagi
Only old guys like us will catch that.
Is she still around?
Absolutely. The S-A ran a great story a several months ago about her and the song.
Eh, who you calling old. LOL!
Scream’n Beeman!
Good coaching clearly evident. Pushed the ball up court to beat the defense, good perimeter and inside out ball movement, able to beat the press with relatively ease, and good use of the bench. Although they lost a star player from last year, pulled together for a solid win.
Congratulations, Na Wahine. Let’s go all the way…
Laura Beeman built this program when she first got here four years ago. She had a planned and recruited accordingly and her knowledge of the x’s and o’s in making adjustments during halftime was certainly uncanny. UH, esp. the A.D. Matlin, better rip up her current contract which was just negotiated this past year, and do what other Div. 1 schools do when they have a successful coach, re-negotiate and extend her contract…..don’t take the attitude that we just gave her a new contract etc…because a Pac 12 school can easily buy out that contract and offer her a better deal so let her know that she’s appreciated and give her a new contract and raise esp. for her staff which she fought to have raises in her last contract.
Congratulations on a job well done.
I’m sure they have a clause in their contract for extra bonus if they make the NCAA tournament, if not they need to come up with something for Beeman and staff. They have had 4 years of winning seasons.
Totally agree. Don’t ask coach. You offer to extend her contract, increase her based pay, increase her bonuses, increase her staff pay and increase her staff bonuses, especially Mary Wooley. If coach ever leaves, we want Mary Wooley to be the next head coach. At least a little increase. Listening Matlin? “Win, and they will come”, the crowds.
Let’s get real here. She already is one of the highest paid in the conference in a sport that, unfortunately, loses a ton of money and will continue to do so for years to come. Granted she’s a terrific coach but UH needs to allocate their funds wisely and giving her another raise now is a boneheaded play which I don’t think Matlin will make like all boneheaded fans want.
Congratultions Na Wahine!!!! Hawai’i loves all of you!
Congratulations. Watching the game the wahines seem to pass the ball better than the men, more crisp. The men tend to pass the ball lackadaisical at times, like hey don’t respect the other teams speed. Causing a lot of turnovers.
Agree
Definitely something to what you say; I’ve been concerned with the turn overs of late; Got to be on the very top of their game against LB, almost did it on LB’s home court, now let’s see how much our Warriors learned from that last game going foward.
Congratulations!
Totally Great! Congrats to the Wahine! Hope your Mana is transmitted to the Men! Go Bows!
Congratulations Whine!
Congratulations to Beeman and team .Was a great game.Congratulations to Karaitiana MVP of the tournament. They never lost the lead through out the entire game. Nice to see the band and cheer leaders there,also the fans were all out. Hope the men can pull one out over LBS.
Simply awesome !!!
Ccchhhee-hhhuuuu!!!!!
Fantastic game! Go Wahine!
Offer an contract extension to Coach Beeman now before it’s too late. She’s on the radar of bigger programs.
Allie…where are you? Where is your negative post? You hate sports but yet you read and comment on every article.
She only hates mens athletics.
Make it a double the men beat Long Beach. Sweet!!!
Congrats Na Wahine! Awesome!
Comgrats to the Wahine!!!!
R
eally enjoyed the game and sportsmanship between both teams!!!