The Hawaii women’s basketball team leaned on its significant size advantage to tower over little sister Hawaii Hilo in a 62-26 exhibition victory on Thursday night.
“It gets boring going up against each other year-round,” junior forward Kenna Woodfolk said. “We finally get to beat up and get buckets on somebody else, so it felt good.”
The Rainbow Wahine open official play against Pepperdine at the Stan Sheriff Center on Tuesday, the first time in Laura Beeman’s seven seasons as coach that UH begins the regular season at home.
UH, 12-18 (5-11 Big West) last season, is seeking new sources of offense after it lost All-Big West guard Sarah Toeaina, the No. 9 scorer in program history, to graduation. The Wahine were recently picked to finish fifth and sixth in the Big West coaches and media preseason polls.
The Wahine did their damage up front against the much smaller, Division II Vulcans. Sophomore center Lauren Rewers had 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots, forward Leah Salanoa added 11 points and eight rebounds and Woodfolk scored 11 with five rebounds and six steals. UH won the rebounding battle 45-27.
Beeman left the arena without speaking to the media, but Woodfolk and Rewers were receptive to the idea of greater emphasis working the ball inside this season. The 6-foot-4 Rewers held to a keep-it-simple approach to her touches and shot 6-for-12.
“It helps our offense too, (as) we’re occupying inside,” Rewers said. “It leaves the guards with open shots.”
The Wahine didn’t bury those often this time, shooting 4-for-23 on 3s and 42.6 percent overall while committing 16 turnovers. They separated anyway over the Vulcans, who shot 17.8 percent and gave it away 24 times.
“A lot of stuff to work on,” Woodfolk said. “There was some good stuff, there was some bad stuff, like Coach said in the locker room. But there’s always room for improvement. Lauren had a great game. The coaches were on her about taking the pivot out of her game. And tonight she did it, scored a lot of good buckets.”
Two of the team’s best players, point guard Tia Kanoa and forward Lahni Salanoa, sat with injuries, as did wing Amy Atwell and freshman Myrrah Joseph.
That left the Wahine with nine available, which was still more than the eight suited up for the Vulcans.
UHH, coming off a 7-16 (5-15 PacWest) season, was picked to finish ninth in its conference. UH led 27-9 at halftime as UHH struggled to 2-for-21 shooting from the field. The Vulcans scored two points in the second quarter.
Allie Navarette finished as their top performer with nine points and five rebounds.
