Hawaii’s restored depth has given Rainbow Wahine opponents more to study of late.
Forward Amy Atwell continues to headline the UH offense as the leading scorer in Big West women’s basketball with 19.1 points per game. But she’s had more help of late with the return of several players to the Wahine rotation since the start of the conference schedule.
“It takes a bit of pressure off everybody,” Atwell said. “When we have somebody not scoring one night or somebody not having their best game, we have … six, seven, eight on the bench that can pick it up and go off on any given night.
“We have a whole other potential starting five coming off the bench. It’s definitely a huge help and it makes it that much harder for other teams to scout.”
The Wahine (7-7, 3-1 Big West) have averaged nearly 35 points off the bench in compiling a 104-70 advantage over their opponents in that category during a three-game winning streak entering today’s Big West game at UC Santa Barbara (9-6, 3-3).
Guard Daejah Phillips, last season’s Big West Sixth Player of the Year, has averaged 14.3 points off the bench over the last three games, going 23-for-27 from the free-throw line.
Guard Olivia Davies has eight assists against three turnovers with 20 points over the same span. Center Kallin Spiller is shooting 61% from the field and forward Jacque David went 3-for-3 from 3-point range in the opener of last week’s series with Cal State Bakersfield.
The Wahine welcomed point guard Nae Nae Calhoun back to the rotation in last Saturday’s rematch with the Roadrunners after a four-game absence. Calhoun started the first nine games of the season and provided steady play at the point in 14 minutes in relief of Kelsie Imai in UH’s 73-66 win.
“When you get people back in your lineup that are producing on both sides of the ball, it allows you to limit minutes and that to me is huge,” head coach Laura Beeman said. “You have to be healthy at the end of the year and if you’re banging on people for 40 minutes game after game after game, particularly with our travel, it’s going to be pretty difficult. So I’m just looking forward to continuing to add people back into our rotation.”
Atwell powered the Wahine to Saturday’s win with a career-high 33 points while becoming the 23rd player — and the seventh during Beeman’s tenure — to surpass the 1,000-point mark.
The Wahine departed on the trip averaging a league-best 65.5 points per game in Big West contests and enter UCSB’s Thunderdome alone in second place in the conference.
“It’s always hard to play there,” Beeman said. “They have a dominant post player so we’re going to have some scheme for her and they’ve got shooters all over the floor.
“They have a very veteran seasoned, experienced point guard that’s running their show very well.”
UCSB improved to 6-1 at home with a 61-54 win over Cal State Northridge on Tuesday.
Point guard Danae Miller scored 26 points and center Ila Lane had 10 points and 16 rebounds for the Gauchos. Miller leads UCSB with 12.8 points per game followed by Lane at 11.3. Lane has five double-doubles this season and averages 9.6 rebounds.
The Wahine will complete their “dome” tour on Saturday when they faces CSUN (6-10, 2-4) at the Matadome in Northridge, Calif.
Big West women’s basketball
At The Thunderdome; Santa Barbara, Calif.
Hawaii (7-7, 3-1 BWC) vs. UC Santa Barbara (9-6, 3-3)
>> When: Today, 5 p.m.
>> TV/Radio: None
>> Online: ESPN+
