Wahine face their biggest Big West challenge

Three straight wins have vaulted the Hawaii women’s basketball team near the top of the Big West Conference standings.

Getting No. 4 might mean the Rainbow Wahine stay up there the rest of the way. The second-place Wahine will announce themselves as league title contenders if they can knock off Pacific today in Stockton, Calif.

This figures to be a task beyond any UH has faced through its first four Big West games. The Tigers are 7-0 at the Alex G. Spanos Center, and have an overall average margin of victory of plus-9.3.

“We’re going to have to really come in and play solid basketball,” UH coach Laura Beeman said in a phone interview from California. “If we come out flat, and struggle getting in and out of offense and remember what we need to do defensively, then I think Pacific’s going to handle us. They have a record like they do for a reason.”

UH felt like it turned a defensive corner between a road loss at Cal State Fullerton to start the Big West season and a bounce-back 65-50 win at UC Riverside two days later. It held UC Irvine and Long Beach State to 46 and 57 points in wins at the Stan Sheriff Center last week.

But Pacific leads the conference in scoring at 73 points per game, a full 13.5 more than UH. It’s also the only other team with a better rebounding margin (plus-5.3 to UH’s 2.9).

Pacific has four players averaging double-figure scoring, between 12.7 and 10.8 points per game. The Tigers are coming off a 96-95, triple-overtime loss at Cal Poly that ended their five-game winning streak.

“So far this year we’ve needed to hang our hat on something. It’s defense,” Beeman said. “We’re going to find out tomorrow night if we can make the adjustments necessary.”

UH junior forward Kamilah Martin is third in the Big West in scoring (15.9) and second in rebounding (9.9). She is coming off a season-high 27-point effort to go with 13 rebounds in UH’s 65-57 home win over Long Beach State on Sunday. It was her sixth double-double of the season.

Martin is only 34 points away from becoming the program’s 17th 1,000-point scorer. She is four rebounds away from tying Tanya Smith for third all-time in UH rebounding at 816.

Behind her, the Wahine have increasingly looked inside for production. They went without a 3-point make in both games at home last week, yet still prevailed.

“We’re feeling pretty confident,” Martin said. “You get a little nervous when you play the teams that are at the top of the conference. But we’re feeling pretty good about Coach’s game plan. If we execute that, we’ll be successful.”

Beeman said the eight-person rotation used successfully against Long Beach — starters Monica DeAngelis, Sydney Haydel, Ashleigh Karaitiana, Martin and Kalei Adolpho, with reserves Shawna Kuehu, Vicky Tagalicod and Destiny King — could be the team’s baseline going forward.

“If I can get a Diane (Moore) or a Pua (Kailiawa) or a Marissa (Wimbley) off the bench, and turn that eight into 11, it only helps us as a team,” Beeman said.

The Wahine continue their road trip at UC Davis at noon on Saturday.