HONOLULU — Thursday night was far from the end goal of the Hawaii women’s basketball team, which has turned regular-season championships into standard fare.
Coach Laura Beeman made sure some attention was paid to the latest one, anyway, as her Rainbow Wahine defeated Cal State Bakersfield 66-51 to clinch a share of the Big West title.
After UH (21-8, 15-4 Big West) secured the No. 1 seed in the Big West championships in Henderson, Nev., for the third time in the last four years, the Wahine held a net-cutting ceremony in front of many of the 1,122 (1,886 tickets issued) who remained at the Stan Sheriff Center. Acting athletic director Lois Manin presented Beeman with a championship trophy on the court, and Beeman held it aloft to the crowd.
[Note: See below for more photos of Hawaii's Big West regular-season championship celebration.]
“Coach B actually had to kind of have a talk with us, because we're so focused on winning in the tournament,” senior guard Kelsie Imai said after putting in a team-high 12 points with three steals. “She had to let us know it's okay to celebrate (this).”
By virtue of its top-two standing, UH advances straight to the semifinals and plays at 9 a.m. Hawaii time next Friday, March 14 against one of the Nos. 4, 5 and 8 seeds.
It can win the regular-season title outright in Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against Cal State Northridge (4-24, 2-17).
This year’s title came through considerable hardship along the way. UH lost a key role player from past title teams, forward Jacque David, to a medical retirement. First-team All-Big West guard Daejah Phillips was deemed “indefinitely inactive” three games into conference play — and UH rolled with 14 straight wins, anyway.
Beeman credited her players for responding after an 0-2 start to conference play.
“What this group has done thus far is super special. We're not done. But for tonight, we're gonna enjoy what they did,” the 13th-year coach said.
“You just have to keep the faith in what you've been working on every day,” Beeman said. “Sometimes you're not going to win, but your confidence can’t come from your results. Your confidence has to come just continuing to believe in your process, knowing bigger things are coming your way.”
The Wahine predictably responded against the lowly Roadrunners (2-28, 2-18) coming off road trip losses to UC Riverside and UC Davis. It just took a few minutes.
The Wahine trailed 16-10 early in the second quarter when they launched into a 31-4 run spanning the half. UH’s lack of intensity could be rectified with some ball pressure, Beeman figured.
Wing MeiLani McBee went 0-for-5 from long range and remained one 3-pointer shy of matching Amy Atwell’s program career record of 205.
Imai thought there is still plenty of room for improvement to display Saturday, when she and fellow seniors Lily Wahinekapu, Mia ‘Uhila, Hallie Birdsong, Brooklyn Rewers and McBee will be traditionally honored.
“We still have some growth to make,” the Hawaii Island native said.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.
