Amy Atwell’s college basketball journey began on an exercise bike.
A promising shooter from Australia, Atwell suffered a knee injury before she attended her first class at the University of Hawaii. So while the 2016-17 Rainbow Wahine basketball team worked on the court, Atwell spent many of those days pedaling away or jogging along the sideline as part of her rehab regimen.
At night, she would work through bouts of homesickness an ocean away from her family in South Perth.
Some six years later, Atwell enters her final UH homestand with a place among the elite scorers in the program’s history and a sense of gratitude for the growth fostered through those early trials.
“At the time I hated it because I was like I came over here to play basketball and I’m gonna sit here on the sidelines my whole first year,” Atwell recalled of the rehab process. “Injuries are part of the game and it sucked at the time, but looking back on it I’m actually super grateful I did come in and not play that first year.
“I was already struggling a lot being so far from home and trying to rehab. I’m grateful I got to sit back and watch and soak it all in without having the pressures of the basketball court.”
Since joining the active roster and recording her first bucket on Nov. 12, 2017 in a UH win at Seattle University, Atwell has instead applied pressure on opposing defenses over her evolution from a 3-point specialist into a multi-faceted threat able to score on mid-range jumpers or on drives into the paint.
Perhaps more telling, though, is the admiration she draws from those who have followed her progression over the last six years.
“You don’t see a lot of young women that are as humble as she is and thankful as she is,” UH coach Laura Beeman said.
“Night in, night out she puts her shoes on and she gets on the floor and she plays, and it’s never for Amy Atwell. It’s for this team and it’s for this program.”
Atwell has spent most of this season atop the Big West’s scoring chart and is averaging 18 points per game as the Big West-leading Rainbow Wahine open their final homestand of the season tonight against Cal State Northridge.The regular-season finale against UC Santa Barbara will cap a series of momentous Saturdays in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center for this year’s lone senior night honoree.
Atwell’s layup with 5 seconds left gave the Wahine a 54-52 win over Cal State Fullerton to open conference play back on Jan. 8. Two weeks later, she joined the program’s 1,000-point club while posting a career-high 33 points in a win over CSU Bakersfield.
In UH’s next homestand, Atwell broke the program’s career record for 3-pointers made in a win over UC Riverside. She drained five more from long range in a 25-point performance and her fifth double-double of the season to lead the Wahine past UC Irvine, a win that pushed them into first place in the conference.
Coming off of a sweep of last week’s road trip, the Wahine (15-9, 11-3 BWC) have control of their regular-season title hopes entering the final week of the regular season with the Big West tournament coming up next week in Henderson, Nev.
Taking another shot at a conference title and an NCAA Tournament berth drove Atwell’s decision to forego UH’s senior night ceremony a year ago, opting to extend her career as a graduate student following the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign.
Atwell’s parents navigated travel restrictions to make the trip from Australia to join her for senior night and although the emotional ceremony awaits, Atwell’s focus on the goals ahead leaves little room for looking back just yet.
“It’s definitely been a good chunk of my young adult years where you find out where you want to be and what you want to do with your life,” Atwell said of her time in Hawaii.
“I’ve tried not to sit here and reflect on it because it’s unfinished business still and I’ve still got a job ahead of me. After everything is said and done then I’ll sit down and reflect, but not right now.”
When that time comes, Atwell can look back on a career highlighted by a Big West best Sixth Player award in 2020 and a second-team all-conference selection last year. She’s earned a record four Big West Player of the Week honors this season and is the frontrunner for conference Player of the Year.
All of this coming six years after the UH coaches honored their commitment to support Atwell through her injury and the product of perseverance through some tearful nights early in that first year in Manoa.
“Amy will be the first to tell you she was incredibly homesick her freshman year,” Beeman said. “(It was) many a night crying in her dorm and her dad crying and her mom crying … and I’m like, ‘she’s going to be OK, I promise you.’
“And six years later she’s queen of the court.”
Amy Atwell
6-foot, forward, graduate
Career statistics
>> Games: 120
>> Minutes (per game): 20.8
>> FG-FGA: 406-917
>> FG Pct.: .443
>> 3-pt FG-FGA: 185-490
>> 3-pt Pct.: .378
>> FT-FTA: 170-214
>> FT Pct.: .794
>> Rebounds (per game): 514 (4.3)
>> Assists: 79
>> Blocks: 35
>> Steals: 87
>> Points (per game): 1,167 (9.7)
