Rainbow Wahine basketball team take home top Big West honors

Collective success contributed to the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team claiming two of the Big West’s top individual honors on Monday.

Forward Amy Atwell was named the Big West Player of the Year, while Laura Beeman earned her second Coach of the Year award after leading the Rainbow Wahine to conference’s regular-season championship and the top seed in this week’s Big West tournament.

“It definitely helps when we finish on top and I have teammates around me that put me in this position,” Atwell said before the team’s practice on Monday in Henderson, Nev. “It’s really good to get that recognition. I can’t thank my teammates enough for allowing me to be in this position.”

The Big West title placed the finishing touch on Atwell’s Player of the Year candidacy in her sixth year in the UH program.

The 6-footer from South Perth, Australia, won the Big West scoring title averaging 17.9 points per game and was named the conference Player of the Week a program-record four times this season. She led the conference with 11 20-point performances and scored a career-high 33 in a win over CSU Bakersfield on Jan. 22.

Atwell placed third 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 is the first UH player to win a conference player of the year award since Raylene Howard, another Australian, was named the Western Athletic Conference co-Player of the Year in 2000. The Wahine hadn’t produced a Big West Player of the Year since Judy Mosley shared the award in 1990.

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

For Beeman, seeing Atwell rewarded for her continued ascent led to an emotional moment.

“Thank goodness I wasn’t with the team when I first heard it,” Beeman said. “I had a moment to just get a big lump in my throat and cry a little bit. Then when she found out and I hugged her today, I was just like, ‘I am so proud of you. It is an amazing accomplishment.’

“It’s not that she deserves it — she’s earned it. You don’t get to say that about kids a lot. I just am so proud of her and so happy for her.”

Atwell naturally was named to the All-Big West first team and freshman guard Daejah Phillips was an honorable mention pick. Phillips was the Big West’s Best Sixth Player last year and enters the conference tournament averaging 10.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game and leads the Wahine with 64 assists.

Now in her 10th season, Beeman was previously named Big West Coach of the Year in 2015, the last time UH won the regular-season conference title.

With nine newcomers on the roster, the Wahine were voted fifth in the Big West preseason coaches poll and 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 and clinched the regular-season title with a 58-52 win in Saturday’s rematch with UCSB at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

“There is not a head coach in any level in any sport that does it alone, and I am truly humbled and honored to have the staff that I do,” Beeman said. “I get to stand here and accept this award, but it really is for all of us.”

The Big West’s third major 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. Wahinekapu led the Titans with 14.5 points per game and ranks fourth in the conference with 3.7 assists per game. She was also named to the Big West All-Freshman Team and honorable mention list.

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

“(Senior night) was super special, but it’s next-game mentality,” Atwell said. “It’s win or go home now, so we’ve got to get prepared for that.”