Rainbow Wahine hoops star Amy Atwell unleashes fury en route to record honor

JAMM AQUINO / FEB. 5
After being saddled on the bench in foul trouble in the first half at Long Beach State on Saturday, Hawaii forward Amy Atwell came out of the locker room hot, hitting 7-for-9 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3 to rally the Wahine to a win.

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JAMM AQUINO / FEB. 5

After being saddled on the bench in foul trouble in the first half at Long Beach State on Saturday, Hawaii forward Amy Atwell came out of the locker room hot, hitting 7-for-9 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3 to rally the Wahine to a win.

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Amy Atwell was tired of watching.

Two early fouls landed the Hawaii forward on the bench with more than seven minutes to go in the second quarter of the Rainbow Wahine basketball team’s showdown with Long Beach State on Saturday.

Atwell, the conference’s leading scorer, had just five points and could do little as the Beach went on a 13-0 run before the Wahine bench responded to cut the deficit to nine at the break.

“I had a lot to make up for in the first half and I wasn’t very happy about having to sit most of the second quarter,” Atwell recalled.

“I really didn’t want to lose that game, so it (was) more just, ‘I have to do anything I can to right now to win this thing.’ ”

Unleashed coming out of the locker room, Atwell went 7-for-9 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point range — including the go-ahead 3 with 1:46 left — to lead the Wahine to a 72-64 comeback win and into the top spot in the Big West standings.

She finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds, and her performance — paired with an 18-point night at Cal State Fullerton last Thursday — earned Atwell a program-record fourth Big West Player of the Week award on Monday.

Only UH great Judy Mosley (1989-90) had won the award three times in a Big West season. Nani Cockett (1997-98), Rayleen Howard (1998-99 and 1999-2000), Crystal Lee (2000-01) and Tanya Smith (2007-08) had accomplished the hat trick during UH’s membership in the Western Athletic Conference.

“It’s definitely a huge honor, have a lot of work to do still,” Atwell said. “I’ve said individual accolades don’t mean much at the end of the season, but it’s really cool to be recognized in that kind of way.”

Atwell leads the Big West with 18.5 points per game and ranks second in shooting percentage at 45.3%. She’s also second in 3-pointers made with 45 and leads the team with 6.2 rebounds per game.

Atwell was part of a run of UH players to win the Big West’s Sixth Player of the Year award as a junior in 2020. Now a graduate student, she’s a frontrunner for the conference’s top honor.

“As a team we have to take care of our business for her, and I think the girls absolutely want to do that,” UH coach Laura Beeman said of the Player of the Year award.

“It just shows the work she’s continued to put into her game. You say a lot of kids deserve things … I would rather say kids have earned it and I think Amy has really earned everything that she’s getting. It’s not falling into her lap. She’s getting it and she’s earning it and she’s continuing to work and that’s really exciting.”

Coming off a sweep on the road, the first-place Rainbow Wahine (12-8, 8-2 Big West) take a five-game winning streak into this week’s homestand. UH faces UC San Diego (9-12, 6-6) on Thursday and UC Irvine (14-9, 9-3) on Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. UC Irvine enters today’s game against UCSD tied for second in the league with Long Beach State.