Hawaii’s Laura Beeman, Amy Atwell claim top Big West women’s basketball awards

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Pictured are Rainbow Wahine basketball coach Laura Beeman and Hawaii forward Amy Atwell.

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Hawaii forward Amy Atwell was named the Big West women’s basketball Player of the Year today, while Laura Beeman earned her second Coach of the Year honor.

The Big West announced its all-conference teams today and the Rainbow Wahine claimed two of the league’s major awards after capturing the regular-season championship.

The third award also went to a player with Hawaii ties in ‘Iolani graduate and Cal State Fullerton guard Lily Wahinekapu, who was named the Big West Freshman of the Year.

Atwell, a UH graduate student, won the conference scoring title in averaging 17.9 points per game overall and in league play. Atwell placed third in the Big West in field-goal percentage at .459 in Big West games, second in 3-pointers per game (2.4), and sixth in rebounds per game (7.6).

Atwell was named the Big West Player of the Week a program-record four times this season and is the first UH player to win a conference player of the year award since Raylene Howard was the Western Athletic Conference co-Player of the Year in 2000. Judy Mosley was the last UH player to win the Big West honor, sharing the award in 1990.

Atwell was named the Big West’s Best Sixth Player in 2020 and made the all-conference second team last year. She owns the UH career record with 192 3-pointers made and joined the program’s 1,000-point club this season.

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Beeman was named Big West Coach of the Year for the second time in her 10-year career leading the Rainbow Wahine. She previously won the award in 2015, the last time UH won the regular-season conference title.

With nine newcomers on the roster, the Wahine entered conference play at 3-6. Following a loss at UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 27, the Wahine won 10 of their last 11 games to finish atop the conference standings and earn the top seed in this week’s Big West Tournament.

UH (17-9, 13-3) opens the tournament with a quarterfinal game at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev. The Wahine face the winner of Tuesday’s first-round game between Cal State Northridge and CSU Bakersfield.