IRVINE, CALIF. » New conference. New coach. New swagger.
The next step in Hawaii’s quest to forge a new women’s basketball identity starts today in the second round of the Big West Conference tournament.
Third-seeded UH (17-12) received a first-round bye thanks to its top-four standing. It will go for its first conference tournament win in four years against No. 8 Cal State Fullerton at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center at 3 p.m.
The Rainbow Wahine practiced Tuesday at noon not knowing who they’d face among three possible teams — Fullerton, UC Davis or Cal State Northridge — in action later that night.
It turned out to be Fullerton, a team the Wahine defeated 53-43 just four days ago on senior night.
"Hot off the stove," as first-year UH coach Laura Beeman termed it.
The Titans (10-21) extended their season with a 54-48 upset of No. 5 Long Beach State in a first-round game. The Titans became UH’s opponent automatically because of the Big West’s re-seeding system — the lowest seeds are matched up with the highest seeds between rounds.
As winners of six of its past seven games, UH will take confidence into today’s matchup. The needling self-doubt associated with the program’s struggles in recent years is old news for these Wahine. After the past meeting with Fullerton, Beeman had her team cut down a net as champions of a "preliminary tournament" they won by sweeping their final three-game homestand.
UH’s confident freshmen know little of the program’s well-documented struggles in league tournaments. That could turn out to be a major advantage.
"I think a lot of people have underestimated us, and that makes us more hungry for the championship," said Ashleigh Karaitiana, a Big West All-Freshman honoree. "At the same time, we have to take one game at a time, get it done. A championship. That’s all we want."
It’s been a while.
The Wahine last won a conference tournament game in 2009, when they defeated San Jose State 70-57 in a WAC play-in game.
A win today gets them to their first semifinal game since 2003 under Vince Goo. UH was bounced there by Louisiana Tech, but the Wahine qualified for the WNIT tournament — their last postseason appearance.
The only time UH won its conference tournament for an automatic NCAA berth was during its previous tenure in the Big West, in 1996.
Postseason success was a key bullet point on Beeman’s resume when she got the UH job last March. She won four California Community College State Championships at Mount San Antonio College through 2010. She assisted on the USC team that went to the WNIT championship game in 2011.
"I haven’t been involved with any of the past tournament frustrations either," Beeman said with a laugh. "I guess we’re all kind of starting out fresh. Knock on wood, I’ve had pretty good success in tournaments. Different team, different tournament, but I’m trying to take that same vibe into this. You get here, this is what you do. And that’s why we did what we did senior night, that’s why we approached this thing as mini-tournaments. It’s not about who the best team is. It’s about who the best tournament team is. That’s how you win the NCAA."
UH will again look to get the ball inside to All-Big West first-teamer Kamilah Martin (15.4 ppg, 9.8 rpg) then stifle the Titans on the other end. In the Honolulu matchup, Fullerton was held to 23.9 percent shooting.
"If we play Hawaii basketball, Hawaii defense, very aggressive, we watch our turnovers, crash the boards and get rebounds, do all the little things, our offense will come," freshman reserve Destiny King said.
Senior center Stephanie Ricketts, who has started the past two games, is scheduled to arrive on a flight from Honolulu an hour or two before tipoff and is expected to play. Her time is split because of nursing graduate school.
Freshman backup point guard Marissa Wimbley is considered day-to-day with an ailment.
UH has enjoyed a solid following in its Big West road games, and Beeman expects more of the same here.
"I anticipate having close to 100 people, which I think is a good crowd," she said. "If the guys (the UH men) can make it over, great, if not they’ll be with us in spirit. Right now, yeah you want a crowd, but it’s really about our pride. You have that internal sixth man going on. We’ll create our own noise if we do it the right way."
Fans will be able to watch them from afar. OC Sports’ broadcast team of Kanoa Leahey and Lori Santi flew up for the tournament. They’ll call today’s game and Friday’s semifinal against Cal Poly should the Wahine advance.
