Average is not acceptable. Not as far as the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team’s returnees are concerned.

The Rainbow Wahine opened full practices on Monday with nine letterwinners, including five starters, and three redshirts back from a 12-18 team that tied for sixth in the Big West at 7-9. They reeled off four straight wins late in the season before being eliminated by Cal State Northridge in the BWC tournament quarterfinals.

But the growing pains of the past serve as lessons entering a new season.

“We were the definition of average last year,” junior guard Olivia Crawford said. “We beat three teams in our conference and lost to all the other teams. … That’s not something we wanted for ourselves, that’s not a championship mentality. So everything, when we lift weights, we run sprints, we’re always trying to get better.”

The Wahine got a heavy dose of sprints early in Monday’s practice in a steamy Gym 2 and can expect more of the same heading toward their Nov. 1 exhibition game against UH Hilo and the Nov. 10 season opener at Portland.

“We have to get up and down the floor this year,” sixth-year UH coach Laura Beeman said. “Everyone’s got to be able to run it. So practice will start every day with a lot of transition drills and a lot of expectations and goals to reach during those drills.”

Along with three freshmen, the Wahine added three assistant coaches in the offseason with the hiring of Courtney Locke, Berry Randle and Darron Larsen following the departures of last year’s assistants.

“Coach Beeman told me at the next level it’s like that, you have a lot of new faces come in,” senior guard Sarah Toeaina said. “I like seeing different coaching styles and I’m definitely learning a lot from each coach.”

Toeaina, the team’s lone senior, earned All-Big West first-team honors last season, when she averaged 13.5 points overall and 15.9 in conference play.

“She knows that she’s going to have to be our go-to girl at times, but she’s not going to have to be the go-to girl every single night,” Beeman said. “We’ve got a lot around her. I think that takes some pressure off her.”

Guard Julissa Tago (5.1 ppg, 4.3 rebounds per game) made the BWC all-freshman team. Junior guards Tia Kanoa and Rachel Odumu spent last season heading the scout team during redshirt years after transferring from Arizona State and Monmouth. Forward Amy Atwell also redshirted while rehabbing a knee injury.