Another challenging weekend offers the opportunity for short-term gains and long-term lessons.
Still searching for win No. 1 of the season, the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team begins a stretch of three games in three days on Friday in the Rainbow Wahine Shootout, which ends with a matchup against the No. 2 team in the country on Sunday.
Along the way, the host team will look to build on the growing pains of last week’s Bank of Hawaii Classic while continuing to work toward a Big West title defense.
UH (0-4) opens the three-day tournament against Grambling State (1-4) on Friday and faces Florida Gulf Coast (4-0) for the second time in eight days on Saturday. The Wahine take on No. 2 Stanford (5-1) in the finale on Sunday. UH is scheduled to play at 2:30 p.m. all three days.
“I want our team to compete,” UH coach Laura Beeman said of the outlook for the weekend. “I want our team to continue to execute, so by the time we get into conference, we’re ready to win conference games. That’s really what it’s about.”
The UH coaching staff also put together the early-season tournaments with an eye on March and the pace of preparing for a run in the Big West tournament.
“That’s one of the reasons we always have scheduled the Classic and this tournament,” Beeman said. “So this is something we will use as we move forward and as we get into the Big West Conference tournament. To say, ‘Hey, we’ve been here before. We’ve done this back-to-back-to-back, we know how to take care of our bodies and minds and prepare for the next opponents, have a completely different game plan and be successful.”
In more immediate terms, the Wahine are looking for a breakthrough in the wake of a 20-point loss to Florida Gulf Coast last Friday and an overtime defeat against Lipscomb in last weekend’s Bank of Hawaii Classic to slip to 0-4 for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
FGCU blitzed the Wahine from the 3-point line in the 65-45 win and went on to claim the tournament title. The Wahine led for most of the first half against Lipscomb, erased an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime, but had another comeback bid fall short in the extra five minutes.
“Consistency is a big thing when you do anything,” Beeman said. “We’re not executing consistently on either side of the ball,
“I was super proud of the girls for the way they came back down eight. … I like their fight, I like their effort, I like their energy. We have to get healthy and we have to begin to execute better.”
UH guard Olivia Davies missed the last three games with an undisclosed ailment and guard Ashley Thoms sat out for much of the fourth quarter and OT against Lipscomb.
Guard Daejah Phillips leads UH with 14.3 points per game, followed by Lily Wahinekapu at 11.5. Wahinekapu scored a season- high 18 points against Lipscomb, while Phillips battled through foul trouble to help spark the fourth-quarter comeback and finished with 12.
Grambling State earned its first win of the season against New Orleans last Friday, then lost to San Diego State 66-41 on Tuesday on its way to Hawaii.
Florida Gulf Coast faces Stanford on Friday after going 2-0 to start its 11-day stay on Oahu. Eagles guard Tishara Morehouse was named the ASUN Player of the Week after averaging 16 points in wins over UH and San Diego.
Tara VanDerveer, the winningest coach in women’s college basketball history at 1,162-260, again has Stanford among the nation’s elite. The Cardinal averaged 91 points while allowing 44.4 in their first five games — including an 87-47 win over Portland, which defeated UH in the season’s opening week — before falling to No. 1 South Carolina 76-71 in overtime on Sunday.
The Cardinal return nine players off of last season’s Final Four team and are led by 6-foot-4 forward Cameron Brink’s 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game. All-America guard Haley Jones is averaging nine points and 6.2 boards with 25 assists. Senior guard Hanna Jump is 22-for-40 from 3-point range.
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Rainbow Wahine Shootout
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
>> When: Friday to Sunday
>> TV: UH-Stanford on Spectrum Sports (Sunday)
>> Radio: UH games on 1500-AM Friday and Saturday, 1420-AM / 92.7-FM Sunday
>> Schedule: Friday—Florida Gulf Coast vs. No. 2 Stanford, noon; Grambling State vs. Hawaii, 2:30 p.m. Saturday—Stanford vs. Grambling State, noon; FGCU vs. Hawaii, 2:30 p.m. Sunday—FGCU vs. Grambling State, noon; Stanford vs. Hawaii, 2:30 p.m.
