The ladder positioned under the basket drew some quizzical looks.
Laura Beeman’s first senior night victory in Manoa certainly had a celebratory feel for a Rainbow Wahine basketball team that had surged late in the regular season.
But a net cutting ceremony is usually reserved for a championship game rather than a home finale that secured a third-place finish in the conference standings.
“I know that’s untraditional and weird, but if you have never done it then you don’t know what it feels like,” Beeman told reporters after the 2013 senior night victory. “Now they know what it feels like.”
The ceremony spoke to the then first-year coach’s vision for the program and the Rainbow Wahine were able to take down the nets for real after claiming a Big West regular-season championship in 2015 and winning the conference tournament title a year later in Anaheim, Calif.
Even so, Saturday’s postgame celebration provided an opportunity Beeman hadn’t yet experienced in her decade in Manoa.
Unlike 2015 when UH had clinched the title the previous week on the road, the regular-season crown was still in the balance when the Wahine took the court against UC Santa Barbara, creating a championship atmosphere in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center for the first time in Beeman’s tenure.
When the Wahine held off the Gauchos for a 58-52 win before a spirited crowd, they secured:
>> The program’s fifth regular-season championship.
>> The top seed in this week’s Big West Tournament, and;
>> The guarantee of a postseason berth, whether in the NCAA Tournament or Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
They delivered all of the above amid a complete team performance that also gave forward Amy Atwell a victorious sendoff in the final home appearance of her six-year career.
UH guards Nae Nae Calhoun, who had to be carried off the court during a win at CSU Bakersfield the previous week, and Olivia Davies, who didn’t finish Thursday’s win over Cal State Northridge, returned from their injuries to contribute to the win.
“The fact they wanted to play so badly for Amy’s last game in the Stan was a huge lift for our team and the fact that they were both able to just shows what those kids are made of,” Beeman said Sunday. “It was literally a game-time decision and they pretty much told me, ‘we’re playing.’”
The confluence of emotional elements compelled Beeman take the mic to thank the crowd following the final buzzer and call the night an “all-time favorite moment for me.”
“I know I can be very animated and I don’t care,” Beeman said a day after the festive scene. “I want people to know how much they mean to our program and to me.
“I probably have had over 100 texts in the last 24 hours. That kind of support and appreciation and the kind words, it’s just kept me pretty emotional that this is why I’ve stayed in Hawaii. This is why Hawaii is such magical place.”
This time, Beeman didn’t have to coordinate the net-cutting ritual with the UH athletic department’s marketing and arena staff prepared with the ladder and scissors after the game.
“For other people to say, ‘we want you guys to celebrate this and we’re ready,’ that was really, really meaningful,” Beeman said.
By the time Atwell cut away the first piece of cord, it hardly mattered that the program’s all-time leader in 3-pointers didn’t connect from behind the arc until she drained her parting shot during the senior ceremony on her first try. The favorite for Big West Player of the Year finished with nine points and 11 rebounds, distributed a career-high five assists, swiped three steals and blocked two shots, including one against 6-foot-4 UCSB center Ila Lane.
All 10 UH players sent into the game contributed to the scoring and the balanced performance demonstrated a chemistry developed over the course of a season that began with three losses by a total margin of 84 points.
“I knew we had pieces … I just didn’t know how we were going to come together as a group,” Beeman said of the team’s November outlook.
“We had a couple of really hard team meetings to take care of some distractions and to take care of our alignment to our goals, and this team has bought into that. … This young team is maturing quickly and they’re doing the hard work and it’s really fun to watch.”
With one mission complete, another begins with the team’s departure this morning for Las Vegas (technically Henderson, Nev.) for the Big West Tournament.
The Wahine will play in Wednesday’s 10 a.m. quarterfinal game at the brand new Dollar Loan Center against the winner of a first-round game between Cal State Northridge and CSU Bakersfield.
They’ll leave with the ultimate aim of cutting down another net come Saturday.
“I think any coach in the country will tell you tournament time is about (their team), not about their opponents,” Beeman said. “That’s what our focus is going to be on and that’s what our focus always has been on, and my money is on that these kids are going to be focused and ready to play.”
