Some 233 days after walking off the court in Waco, Texas, the wait for the next opportunity ends today in Corvallis, Ore.
It wasn’t long after a loss to Baylor in the first round NCAA Tournament on March 18 that the the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team’s returnees began looking forward to their next shot.
The trip to Texas capped a landmark season highlighted by the Big West regular-season and tournament championships. After a summer and fall of preparation and anticipation, the Rainbow Wahine open the new season with another Power-Five challenge when they face Oregon State today in Gill Coliseum.
“I think they’ve been ready to play since Baylor,” UH coach Laura Beeman said prior to the team’s departure on a two-game season-opening road trip.
“Playing a Power Five is a way to test where you are. It’s a way for you to measure if we’re on the right trajectory with what we’re doing or do we need to re-calibrate a little bit and continue to work? Power five makes it fun, it also makes it very challenging. … This is a really nice way for us to see where we are.”
After taking on Oregon State, voted sixth in the Pac-12 preseason poll, the Wahine close the road trip at Portland on Wednesday. The Pilots enter the season picked second in the West Coast Conference poll.
Oregon State is the first of two Pac-12 teams on the UH’s non-conference schedule. No. 2 Stanford will visit SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center for the Rainbow Wahine Showdown and faces UH on Nov. 27.
After becoming the first UH team to sweep the Big West titles, UH’s 11 returnees closed last season sharing the court with a Baylor team that featured two first-round picks in the WNBA Draft. Although the Wahine ended the season with a lopsided loss, they carry the experience into the new season.
“I loved playing Baylor,” UH forward Nnenna Orji said. “Just because we’re mid-major doesn’t really mean anything. We all tie our shoes the same.”
Amy Atwell, the second UH player picked in the WNBA Draft, closed her six-year Rainbow Wahine career in Waco. The Wahine are looking for a collective effort to account for Atwell’s production and return their next six leading scorers off last season’s 20-10 team.
Guard Daejah Phillips enters her sophomore season as the team’s top returning scorer after averaging 10 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. She also led the team with 73 assists.
The Wahine also return Olivia Davies and Kelsie Imai to the backcourt and added Big West freshman of the year Lily Wahinekapu as a transfer from Cal State Fullerton. Guard Jovi Lefotu, Wahinekapu’s sister and last season’s All-State Player of the Year at ‘Iolani, led UH with a 20-point performance in last Tuesday’s exhibition win over Hawaii Pacific University.
Along with the depth, versatility in the backcourt adds to the options available to the Wahine.
“It makes rotations easier, it make lineups easier especially when we’re playing different types of opponents,” Davies said. “We don’t have something set in stone, we can work with what we have.”
Orji (5.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg) and center Kallin Spiller (7.3, 5.1) bring starting experience to the front court. Forward Jacque David emerged as a threat inside and from the 3-point arc as a freshman and the Wahine welcomed newcomers in transfer Meg Jefferson and freshmen Avery Watkins and Imani Perez.
“I really want to see how we respond to the lights on Monday night, because it’s going to be a crowd and environment that a lot of these young ladies have only seen on TV,” Beeman said. “I’m really curious to see who is going to step up, who is going to be our voice and how we’re going to respond to that.”
The Beavers went 17-14 last season, advancing to the quarterfinals of the WNIT, and are led by sophomore guard Talia von Oelhoffen, the daughter of Molokai product and former UH and NFL lineman Kimo von Oelhoffen and former Wahine basketball player Tondi (Redden) von Oelhoffen. The younger von Oelhoffen was an All-Pac 12 selection last season when she averaged a team-high 13.7 points per game while shooting 40.3% from the field and dished out 84 assists.
The Beavers also present a sizable challenge in the post in 6-foot-9 sophomore Jelena Mitrovic, who averaged 13.5 points and eight rebounds in the WNIT.
Von Oelhoffen had 23 points and Mitrovic 16 in an exhibition win over Western Oregon on Oct. 30.
“(Mitrovic) moves well she can finish around the basket. We have to do our work early to keep her out of the paint. And then they’re going to have tremendous role players,” Beeman said.
“They have size, speed, athleticism and they have the head of the monster in Talia.”
UH and Portland will meet for the fourth time in the last six years. The Pilots pulled away from the Wahine with a 31-point fourth quarter in a 91-77 win last year in Manoa.
Rainbow Wahine basketball
At Gill Coliseum; Corvallis, Ore.
Hawaii at Oregon State
>> When: Today, 3:30 p.m.
>> TV/Radio: None
>> Online: osubeavers.com
