Rainbow Wahine to face UCLA in NCAA tournament
DARRELL MIHO / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
UH Rainbow Wahine celebrate after beating the UC Davis Aggies 78-59 to win the Big West Tournament Championship on March 12 at the Honda Center.
The University of Hawaii women’s basketball team will face UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday in Los Angeles.
The Rainbow Wahine gathered at the Wong Hospitality Room in the Stan Sheriff Center to watch the NCAA tournament selection show today and cheered when Hawaii appeared in the 64-team bracket as the 14th seed in the Bridgeport Regional. UCLA (24-8) is the No. 3 seed. Tip off is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Pauley Pavilion. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
“To play in front of your family it means a lot to us, but it’s just taking care of us right now,” said UH senior Destiny King, one of the Wahine players from Southern California.
“I think it’s whoever shows up that day and anything can happen come tournament time. … I think if we show our fight and we do what we do then we’re going to be a good matchup.”
UH is 1-6 all-time against UCLA and the teams last met in 2010 with the Bruins winning 72-44 in the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Shootout in Hilo. The winner of Saturday’s matchup will face No. 6 seed South Florida or No. 11 Colorado State.
UCLA was ranked 10th in the Associated Press poll and lost to Oregon State 69-57 in the Pac-12 championship game on March 6.
“They’re a very, very well coached team,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “They’re very well balanced, they’re inside-outside, they have very dynamic guards. Their athleticism just jumps out of the arena. So definitely have our hands full.”
The Rainbow Wahine (21-10) earned the program’s sixth NCAA tournament berth and first since 1998 with a win over UC Davis in the Big West tournament championship game on Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
UH is 1-5 in the NCAA tournament, earning its lone win in the first round in 1990 against Montana. The Wahine lost to Arkansas in the program’s last NCAA appearance in 1998.
The Wahine earned berths in the WNIT each of Beeman’s first three seasons at UH before earning a spot in the NCAA bracket this time around.
“As a coach you want to play for the biggest honor and the biggest award you possibly can,” she said. “So to finally see Hawaii up in that bracket, it was absolutely a snapshot in my life that will not be forgotten.”
The tournament opens Friday with the first two rounds played on campus sites. Connecticut, South Carolina, Notre Dame and Baylor are the four No. 1 seeds. UH lost to South Carolina 67-51 on Nov. 29 at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Shootout. The Wahine also faced tournament teams in Texas A&M, Pennsylvania, Arizona State and BYU.
30 responses to “Rainbow Wahine to face UCLA in NCAA tournament”
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Go Kalei Adolpho Go !!!!!!
I like her aggressiveness but wish she could shoot better.
Same on the Volkeyball court, if Kalei was more accurate, she might still be with the Volleyball team, because I don’t think we celebrated her senior night in volleyball unless we missed something. Dave Shoji needs to go for the same recruits that Penn State, Nebraska and Stanford are going for and if he snags a couple of them, we could perennially be in the top four. We can’t do it with mirrors anymore. The best chance that the Volleyball team had to win another title was when the Willoughby and Kahumoku duo was here in the early 2000s and Dave blew it. Well enough of the volleyball team. Let’s go Rainbow Wahine Basketball !!! Lol even if by chance we faced UConn in the national title game, we would get blown out 94 to 32.
You missed something.
Is your last name Kuroda?
I thought it was only in volleyball that UH get to lock horns with UCLA now its basketball. Maybe this can be a start to get UCLA
It’s a tradition to have UCLA come out to The Stanley annually to participate in a preseason tournament with Dave Shoji’s team. I wonder how Andy Banachowski agreed to this.
why is it that some teams play in their city?
it’s like a home game and that’s not fair
for the other teams in that regional.
all the games should be played on neutral sites.
Women’s basketball is not advanced enough that they could draw fans such as Men’s Basketball, that’s why first and second round games are held in the top 16 seed cities. Same with Wahine Volleyball. Unless UH women’s volleyball is ranked by the AVCA poll in the top four, almost guaranteeing them a top 16 RPI, UH will not host the first and second rounds. Dave Shoji has put in bids for Regionals and even the Final Four Women’s Volleyball tournament was held in Honolulu once.
So what are our chances of winning?
playing UCLA in Los Angeles…not much.
Doesn’t matter. Wahine are in the big dance, they will give it their best shot, and what happens, happens. Just enjoy the ride. This has been a great season that continues on Saturday.
Your are right about that!!! No matter what happens, the Wahine made it to the Big Dance this year, and that’s already an accomplishment in itself. Go Wahine Bow Basketball Team!!! Fight hard all the way and show everyone your fighting spirit!!! Represent!!!
UCLA wins this but congrats to my friend Laura Beeman for her good work. Beeman, UH’s best coach, is not just a coach. She is a caring, smart, helpful person who counsels females and others about life. I am grateful for what she did for me 2 years ago.
I’m glad for you but you still need help because most of the time you’re giving your negative thoughts on these blogs.
Obviously counseling you about growing up and learning humility was not one of her lessons. You should learn to support all programs and not constantly be bringing others down. Ms. Beeman is a long-time friend of mine from before she became the coach at UH. I’m sure if I were to show her your constant negativity about UH and Hawaii, she’d be disappointed. You may want to consider that when posting in the future. Like the coach, lead by example. You write things to incite reaction. I hope you take this post to heart or the coach’s words have gone to waste on you.
I am hoping but should they lose, yeah, I am with you that I am glad what they accomplished this season.
the ladies win and advance. So there its said.
The Lakers prevailed over The Warriors, so anything can happen.
This is a “Smile” stone for the Wahine – – and the ball is round; Anything can happen! You Go, Wahine!
strange to split the fan base of hawaii basketball to spokane and los angeles. for the programs’ sake and for the fans that supported the teams throughout the season, the ncaa should allow schools that qualify both men and women teams to play in the same city during the tournament.
That’s not always possible or practical as you are talking about two different committees making the decisions. They cannot accommodate one or two teams unfortunately..
Thanks Jimmy Borges for the many roles that u played on Hawaii Five-O. My most memorable one was when u sang and the disgruntled senior in his 70s strapped a bomb to himself and had to be talked out of it, with u playing a major role in the disarmament. Although we always knew that the good guys would win, it was fun going through the tension and mystery of da da da da da do, da da da da da. Too bad that eventually Chin Ho had to die in the 10th season.
thank you, did not realize it was not the same committee making the tournaments’ scheduling.
Men’s and Women’s tournaments. Also the national championship game for the men will be on a Monday and for the women, on Tuesday. I suppose Geno Auriemma will win it all again. There is a big divide in the women’s game between the haves and have nots, having a lot of routs.
OMG….. Go Bows!
Where does the band and cheerleaders go on this one. Hoping for an upset cause on any given day the under dog can rise to the occasion.
Are the games on different days? Even so, the band and cheerleaders would probably go to the men’s game in Spokane at the least. That’s what I hope my $10 donation to the UH band was for.
I believe the men play on Friday and the women on Saturday.
Short flight from Spokane to Los Angeles. Way back in the day, The Spokane Indians of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League was managed by Tom Lasorda, when Spokane was the AAA affiliate of The Los Angeles Dodgers. The Hawaii Islanders, an affiliate of The California Angels, also had a very good team in 1970, when we were managed by Chuck Tanner. Hawaii played Spokane for the PCL title, however Spokane prevailed. Both Lasorda and Tanner went on to manage big league teams and both won a World Series. Lasorda is still alive whereas Tanner passed on a few years ago.