Wahine welcome road-trip challenge

A 10-day, three-game road trip can be viewed in one of a couple of different ways: a bane or a boon.

Given how well the Hawaii women’s basketball team has played on the mainland recently, coach Laura Beeman is choosing the latter going into today’s first leg of the trip at Cal State Northridge.

"I think it’s great preparation for the Big West tournament," the first-year UH coach said. "I really do. I think we’re really fortunate that we can get on the road for 10 days and prepare for that tournament. I think we’ll be one of the few teams that has that opportunity."

The Rainbow Wahine are 2-2 on the road in league play, but they are coming off a 51-50 home loss to UC Santa Barbara. The defeat dropped UH into a three-way tie for second place heading into the midpoint of the Big West season.

Beeman chalked up the UCSB loss to a lack of focus, execution and team accountability. Her team seemed to get the message Thursday in its last practice before the lengthy trip.

"It’s a gut check, I think," junior wing Vicky Tagalicod said. "On being focused and locked in. Being away from home, playing away is always tough. It’s a matter of how strong you are as a team, mentally and physically."

Games at Cal State Northridge today and Long Beach State and UC Irvine next Thursday and Saturday offer UH a chance to separate from the pack. The top two teams in the regular season receive a double-bye into the Big West tournament semifinals in mid-March.

"Definitely need to get some wins under our belt. We’re not too bad on the road," said senior point guard Monica DeAngelis. "I don’t think it will be too different. We won’t have class — that will be nice — but we have study hall on the road. Still a lot of practice time. We’ll find gyms and put in the work.

"It’ll be nice to think of it as a business trip and really focus."

Beeman said a steady diet of film and study hall would keep the team on task, but the team’s five California natives on the trip would still have time to visit with friends and family.

UH has enjoyed sizable road support in its California games to this point. DeAngelis, a Santa Monica native, expects that to continue.

"It’s actually been pretty good. We’ve had pretty large cheering sections at every game that we’ve been to. We always see Hawaii fans," she said.

Beeman can earn her 400th career head coaching victory on this trip. She stands at 399 with 390 wins during her 15 years at Mt. San Antonio College (Calif.) and nine so far at UH.

"You know, there have been a lot of players who have been involved with that," Beeman said. "The majority of my time was spent at Mt. SAC, and it will always be a home. … If I get it on this trip, that’s fantastic. If not, I have a few more years of coaching, hopefully I get one in the next three years."