Briana Harris’ first visit to UCLA put her on a path to a college basketball career.
That road will circle back to Westwood this week when Harris returns with the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team for the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 1998.
NCAA FIRST ROUND
At the Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles
>> Who: UH (21-10) vs. UCLA (24-8)
>> When: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.
>> TV: ESPN2
Two days after claiming the Big West championship, the Rainbow Wahine gathered at the Wong Hospitality Room in the Stan Sheriff Center on Monday to watch the NCAA tournament selection show and cheered when Hawaii appeared in the 64-team bracket as the 14th seed in the Bridgeport, Conn., Regional.
UH (21-10) will face third-seeded UCLA (24-8) in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday in a first-round matchup scheduled for 12:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
“There’s always so much tradition there and there’s always so much history because of John Wooden, and I have the utmost respect for (UCLA coach) Cori Close and what she’s done with that program at UCLA,” said UH coach Laura Beeman, who spent two seasons as an assistant at rival USC. “To be in L.A., where a lot of our family and friends will be able to join us, it’s really exciting.”
Harris grew up in Inglewood, Calif., and attended a youth camp hosted by the Bruins when she was in elementary school. The experience helped crystallize her long-range goals.
“It made me realize I can come to college and play basketball,” said Harris, now a junior guard with the Wahine. “That was the day I realized, ‘OK, I’m going to college and I’m going to be something.’ ”
The Wahine checked off one of their top objectives this season when they earned the program’s sixth NCAA tournament berth with a win over UC Davis in the Big West tournament championship game Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
The Wahine earned berths in the WNIT each of UH coach Laura Beeman’s first three seasons at UH before earning a spot in the NCAA bracket this time around.
After clinching the Big West title, Beeman said her parents told her, “This is a bucket-list item for us, to see you (her team) play in the NCAA tournament.”
“… to finally see Hawaii up in that bracket, it was absolutely a snapshot in my life that will not be forgotten.”
Laura Beeman
Wahine basketball coach
“For me as their daughter, it’s so exciting. As a coach you want to play for the biggest honor and the biggest award you possibly can. So to finally see Hawaii up in that bracket, it was absolutely a snapshot in my life that will not be forgotten.”
The work of preparing to face the Bruins began in earnest not long after the selection show’s conclusion.
Beeman said the staff started gathering video of UCLA last week in anticipation of a possible postseason matchup with the Bruins. The team is scheduled to practice on campus today and Wednesday, with a flight to Los Angeles later that afternoon.
UCLA is ranked 10th in this week’s Associated Press poll and lost to Oregon State 69-57 in the Pac-12 championship game on March 6. The Bruins are led by sophomore guard Jordin Canada’s 16.1 points per game. Senior guard Nirra Fields averages 15.7 and Monique Billings, a 6-foot-4 sophomore forward, contributes 12.7 points and eight rebounds.
“They’re a very, very well-coached team,” Beeman said. “They’re very well balanced, they’re inside-outside, they have very dynamic guards. Their athleticism just jumps out of the arena. So we definitely have our hands full.”
UH is 1-5 in the NCAA tournament and 1-6 all-time against UCLA. The teams last met in 2010, with the Bruins winning 72-44 in Hilo. The winner of Saturday’s matchup will face No. 6 seed South Florida or No. 11 Colorado State.
“We always talked about it, but now it’s reality,” Harris said. “Now we know who we’re playing and who we can potentially play in the second round and we’re just like, ‘OK, we can come in here and play Hawaii basketball and show the world.’ ”
The NCAA tournament opens Friday, with the first two rounds played on campus sites. Connecticut, South Carolina, Notre Dame and Baylor are the four No. 1 seeds. UH lost to South Carolina 67-51 on Nov. 29 and also faced tournament teams in Texas A&M, Pennsylvania, Arizona State and BYU.
Beeman said UH’s nonconference schedule was assembled with just such an occasion in mind.
“That’s why you schedule the way you do in your preseason, so when the big names pop up on the other side of the ball you don’t freak out,” Beeman said. “Our kids aren’t going to freak out.”
