A penchant for comebacks has helped propel Hawaii to the front of the Big West women’s basketball race.
Three times in the Big West season, the Rainbow Wahine erased double-digit deficits in the second half to pull out pivotal victories, most recently last Saturday when they rallied past Long Beach State to ascend to the top line of the conference standings.
Of course, falling behind isn’t part of the plan going in, but the Wahine have displayed a knack for maintaining their composure and confidence when their opponents surge ahead.
“The comeback is not necessarily a comeback,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “With this group sometimes they just have to get the feel for the game and figure it out a little bit.
“We don’t like getting down, but this group does not panic, as a coaching staff we do not panic. They have to get the feel sometimes.”
UH battled from 10 points down in the third quarter against Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 8 and opened conference play with a 54-52 win. They trailed by 13 in the third quarter in an eventual 57-50 win over UC Davis on Feb. 2 and were chasing Long Beach State by 13 again last Saturday at the Walter Pyramid.
The Wahine responded with a 19-2 run to take the lead and finished the game with an 8-0 surge to in a 72-64 win to complete a sweep of last week’s road trip and overtake LBSU and UC Irvine for the conference lead.
“It’s not great that we somehow always seem to find ourselves down at halftime,” UH forward Amy Atwell said. “But I do love the way this team rallies in the second half and never gives up.
“We have to work on playing first halves better and putting ourselves in better positions. But it’s having that confidence that we never lose faith in ourselves. So no matter how much we’re down or how the game is going, we have a second half of basketball to turn it around and we tend to finish games well.”
UH’s ability to finish on those occasions pushed the Wahine (12-8, 8-2) ahead of the pack in the Big West standings entering today’s game against UC San Diego (9-13, 6-7) at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. They’ll then face UC Irvine (15-9, 10-3), which sits in second place, on Saturday in a 3:30 p.m. matchup to cap their penultimate homestand of the regular season
“I believe this group knows what’s at stake and it’s our job as a staff to challenge them and continue to get them to buy into what we need and continue to elevate their game,” Beeman said. “We cannot get complacent because we haven’t won anything yet. Not a thing.”
UH’s couldn’t overcome a slow start in its first meeting with UC San Diego and host Tritons sprinted away to an 82-58 win on Jan. 13 at RIMAC Arena in La Jolla, Calif. The Tritons went 16-for-37 from 3-point range that night and were led by Sydney Brown’s five 3s in a 25-point, 16-rebound performance.
“When you get your teeth kicked in … it gives you a little bit of a wake-up call,” Beeman said. “UCSD kicked our teeth in so I think we will be ready to play (today).”
The win over UH was part of a 6-2 start to Big West play for the Tritons, who have lost five straight entering tonight’s game.
The Wahine, conversely, return home with a five-game winning streak and hold the conference lead based on winning percentage.
“It doesn’t really change the perspective, we’ve just got to work that much harder now that we’ve got the title on our back,” said Atwell, the conference’s leading scorer at 18.5 points per game. “It’s hard to get here and it’s even harder to stay here, so we’ve got a lot of work to put in over the next three weeks if we want to stay on top.”
BIG WEST WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
UC San Diego (9-13, 6-7 BWC) vs. Hawaii (12-8, 8-2 BWC)
>> When: Today, 7 p.m.
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: 1500-AM
>> Tickets: etickethawaii.com, Stan Sheriff Center ticket office
