University of Hawaii’s Amy Atwell earns Big West basketball player of week honor

The top two scoring performances of Amy Atwell’s career earned the University of Hawaii forward her first Big West women’s basketball Player of the Week award.

Atwell, a graduate student, scored 59 points while shooting 56% from the field over two games in the Bank of Hawaii Classic. She hit eight of 16 attempts from 3-point range and grabbed 11 rebounds in the tournament for the Rainbow Wahine (1-3).

After totaling 15 points in UH’s season-opening road trip, Atwell hit her first four shots against Portland on her way to a career-high 30 in the Rainbow Wahine home opener on Friday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

She threatened that mark on Sunday, hitting 11 of 19 shots in a 29-point performance in UH’s 71-68 win over Portland State.

UH continues its homestand with the three-day Rainbow Wahine Showdown starting Friday. The Wahine open the tournament on Friday against Eastern Illinois and face Utah on Saturday and Gonzaga on Sunday. All three UH games are scheduled for 2:30 p.m., with the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team set to play its final two home matches at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Volleyball race reaches stretch run

The Rainbow Wahine volleyball team can clinch the outright Big West title and an NCAA Tournament bid with one win or a UC Santa Barbara loss this week.

UH (20-6, 17-1 BWC) secured at least a tie for first place with its win at Cal Poly on Saturday. UCSB (19-11, 15-3) plays at Cal State Northridge (7-21, 6-12) today.

The Wahine open the final weekend of conference play on Friday against CSUN and face UCSB in Saturday’s senior night match. UCSB dealt UH its lone loss of the Big West season with a sweep on Oct. 22 at the Thunderdome.

UH has won nine straight since and rose to N0. 53 in the NCAA RPI posted on Monday.

Big West honor for Radford alumna

UC Irvine sophomore and Radford graduate Bailey Darnell was named the Big West women’s volleyball Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.

Darnell earned a start at libero for the Anteaters’ match with UH on Nov. 12 and kept the spot for two matches last week. She popped up 26 digs, the highest total for the Anteaters this season, in a four-set win over Cal State Fullerton and added 10 more in a loss at Long Beach State.

UC Santa Barbara outside hitter Michelle Owhobete was named the Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week.