Wahine basketball team hopes to move forward on road

The state of the Hawaii women’s basketball team remains adverse heading into this week’s road trip, despite some recent success.

UH players learned they lost assistant coach Darron Larsen for good following Saturday’s six-point home win over UC Riverside due to a work visa issue.

Larsen, whose appeal of a November federal government decision was denied last week, must return to his native New Zealand soon after the eighth-place Rainbow Wahine (9-12, 2-6 Big West) return from games at Cal Poly (11-8, 5-2) and UC Santa Barbara (7-12, 4-3).

“How do we move on? We have to,” UH coach Laura Beeman said Monday. “Sometimes life isn’t fair. I can’t even explain it to the kids, other than their vote matters. That’s as political as I’m going to get. They have to stand up for what they believe in, what they want to fight for. But sometimes life is not fair.”

The team response is centered on trying to earn its first conference road victory of the season, which will not come easily against Mustangs and Gauchos teams positioned second and fourth in the conference standings.

A tearful team locker room session followed the 63-57 win over UCR — which snapped a three-game losing streak — when players learned about Larsen’s fate. Larsen was the team’s offensive guru and has been replaced by video coordinator Ryan Dubbeldam, another New Zealander.

Two days later, team captain Sarah Toeaina put the positive into perspective.

“We needed it. We needed that little boost,” Toeaina said. “We know that having a win against a tough team that we recently played is just the beginning of … a snowballing effect, is what we call it. Once the ball starts rolling down the hill it’ll keep escalating and keep going faster.”

Toeaina has scored in double figures in six straight games, moving her into 19th on the Wahine career chart at 1,027 points.

UH has beaten Cal Poly six straight times, including by 21 points in the Big West tournament last March. But the Mustangs feature the conference’s second-leading scorer in Dynn Leaupepe (19.6 ppg), as well as her twin, Lynn (11.3).

UH’s twin tandem, once a comparable threat to that of Cal Poly, has seen its production dip of late. Lahni (8.5) and Leah Salanoa (3.6) have taken on a secondary shooting role.

Beeman started freshman Amy Atwell and junior Rachel Odumu the past two games in place of Lahni Salanoa and Julissa Tago. Atwell averaged nine points over the past three games.

Odumu, a Monmouth transfer, helped UH in the second half against UCR, despite scoring only two points — her first points in three games. She hit the deck repeatedly making hustle plays.

“I love playing alongside her, whether it’s on offense or defense,” Toeaina said. “Any stopped ball, she’s right there giving me a high five or what she sees that I’m not seeing. She’s a big defensive spark; she gets to one side of the court to the other in a blink of an eye.”

UCSB boasts the two most accurate 3-point shooters in the conference in Makala Roper (48.6 percent) and Sarah Bates (46.4).