Amy Atwell swiped one from Northern Arizona to tip off the Hawaii women’s basketball home schedule.
Actually, the freshman stole the ball four times for a bucket each instance during her Stan Sheriff Center debut, an 84-68 Rainbow Wahine win over the Lumberjacks in front of a “Whiteout” crowd of 712 on Friday.
The 6-foot Australian was the biggest reason UH (2-1) held a 40-7 advantage in bench points. Atwell had season bests of 17 points (8-for-15 shooting) and eight rebounds, and each of her swipe-and-score sequences helped stave off the Lumberjacks (0-3) of the Big Sky at key moments.
“I came into tonight kind of just focused on defense and rebounding, because Coach (Laura Beeman) always says that defense transitions into offense,” said Atwell, who sat out last season while recovering from an ACL injury. “The ball was just right there, so I have to take it. I don’t think I’ve had that many steals in a game before.”
UH faces San Diego (3-0) for the championship of the four-team Rainbow Wahine Bank of Hawaii Classic at 5 p.m. Sunday. The Wahine are going for their first back-to-back titles in the program’s signature (formerly eight-team) tournament, which dates back to 1979.
Sarah Toeaina added 16 points with seven rebounds, Lahni Salanoa fouled out with 11 and Julissa Tago scored 10 for UH. Point guard Tia Kanoa had seven assists to offset her 1-for-9 shooting.
All 11 Wahine who played scored.
Beeman was disappointed in some of her team’s busted plays on both ends, but glowed about the emergence of Atwell, who started the second half.
“That’s why we recruited her,” Beeman said. “There were times last year when she was sitting on the bench last year where I was like, ‘Will you hurry up and get better?’ So it’s really nice in the last three games to see her game evolve. … She’s not afraid of physicality, which is awesome, and she’s very aggressive.
“We need that … because we don’t get it across the board all the time.”
Atwell went coast-to-coast for three layups off steals to help her team maintain a narrow lead after a back-and-fourth first quarter. Her fourth swipe was taken from a Lumberjack after a defensive rebound, and she muscled her way through for a tough bucket for a 74-61 lead with 3:15 left.
Guard Olivia Lucero led NAU with 23 points, thanks to 11-for-11 free-throw shooting.
San Diego 72, Boise State 52
The Toreros jumped out to a 25-6 lead after a quarter and never looked back, dominating the Broncos (1-1).
Guard Aubrey Ward-El led USD with 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting.
