University of Hawaii women’s basketball team are 2 W’s from Big West title

The stakes rise when the calendar turns to March.

Over the past two months, the Big West-leading University of Hawaii women’s basketball team positioned itself to play for a championship in the final week of the regular season.

Now, amid the buzz of a title chase and the annual emotion of senior week and with the conference tournament a week away, the Rainbow Wahine will look to keep their focus on the opportunity at hand in their final homestand.

“There’s a lot of exciting things coming up, definitely some pressure situations,” UH forward Kallin Spiller said. “But that’s what we live for. We all live for March.”

The Rainbow Wahine (15-9, 11-3 Big West) enter the final week of the regular season atop the Big West standings, based on winning percentage, and with control of their championship hopes going into games against Cal State Northridge (9-17, 5-11) on Thursday and UC Santa Barbara (15-10, 9-7) on Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

After sweeping last week’s road trip, the Wahine returned to Manoa just ahead of second-place UC Irvine (17-10, 12-4), with Long Beach State (18-6, 11-5) next in line.

The Wahine will celebrate forward Amy Atwell’s six-year career in Saturday’s senior night ceremony. But the time for reflection can wait as the Wahine chase the program’s first regular-season conference title since 2014-15 and the top seed in next week’s Big West tournament in Henderson, Nev.

“When you get lost in hoopla you lose sight of doing your job,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “Of course, there’s a different feeling because there’s so much excitement right now. Bottom line, we are not done, and that to me is where my focus stays.”

While the emotion of senior night awaits on Saturday, Atwell approaches her final two home games, “just focusing in bigger things.”

“We’re fighting for a regular-season conference championship and preparing for the (Big West) tournament,” said Atwell, the Big West’s leading scorer at 18 points per game

Back in November, the Wahine were voted fifth in the preseason Big West coaches poll and fourth in the media poll. They began the season with losses at San Diego and USC by a combined 73 points and went 3-6 in the nonconference schedule.

Since dipping to 3-2 in Big West play with a loss at UCSB on Jan. 27, the Wahine have won eight of their past nine games to climb to the top of the standings.

“We had a super young team and a lot of new girls in November and it’s all about how you’re playing in March,” Atwell said. “Preseason games are for the exact reason, to get you ready for conference and the conference tournament, and you want to be peaking and playing your best basketball in late February and early March.

“It was never alarm bells with our poor start. It was just keep grinding and the process.”

Two days after the 65-51 loss in UCSB’s Thunderdome, the Wahine were able to grind out a 76-67 win at CSUN, with Atwell and Daejah Phillips each scoring 15 points.

CSUN forward Tess Amundsen hit four 3-pointers in a 20-point performance and is shooting just under 50% behind the arc this season while averaging a team-high 13.4 points per game.

“She gets it done from the 3-point line, so we can’t lose her in transition, we can’t lose her on kickouts and offensive boards,” Beeman said.

Beeman also noted the offensive rebounding production of forward Kayanna Spriggs. The 6-foot-2 freshman ranks second in the Big West with 63 offensive boards, including 39 in conference games.

Phillips has continued to complement Atwell’s production and went 18-for-23 from the field in a 19-point performance at CSU Bakersfield and a 22-point afternoon at Cal Poly last week.

“With Daejah playing so well, (guard Olivia Davies) being back on the floor, Kallin giving us great minutes and other people stepping up, Amy doesn’t have the pressure on herself night in and night out that she has to be the go-to girl,” Beeman said. “We’ve got people who can step up and help her out.”

Davies (8.3 ppg) sat out last week’s road trip and guard Nae Nae Calhoun missed the win at Cal Poly after suffering an injury at CSU Bakersfield.

“Nae is a fighter,” Beeman said. “She’s locked in and she’s going to do everything she possibly can to contribute.”

Big West women’s basketball

At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center

Cal State Northridge (9-17, 5-11) vs. Hawaii (15-9, 11-3)

>> When: Thursday, 7 p.m

>> TV: Spectrum Sports

>> Radio: 1500-AM