Coming off two losses in the chilly Pacific Northwest, the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team turned up the heat in practice upon returning to campus.
“It’s added a lot of fire to us,” Rainbow Wahine guard Ashley Thoms said of UH’s season-opening losses at Oregon State and Portland last week. “The coaches have brought the intensity for sure, and we have that little chip on our shoulder.”
A controversial foul call in the final second at Oregon State led to UH’s 61-60 loss to the Beavers in Corvallis on Nov. 7. Two days later, the Wahine struggled against Portland’s height and tempo in a 70-54 loss to fall to 0-2 for the second year in a row.
The Wahine converted the lessons of last year’s early-season struggles into a run to the Big West championship and can reflect on that journey as they continue a challenging nonconference schedule with Friday’s home opener against reigning ASUN champion Florida Gulf Coast (2-0) in the Bank of Hawaii Classic.
“Just seeing the improvements we made from the beginning of last season to the end was cool to watch and just see how close our team got,” guard Kelsie Imai said. “And I think part of that was having tough (nonconference) games and really being able to celebrate when we have good games.”
The Rainbow Wahine will share SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center with the UH women’s volleyball team this weekend and Friday’s basketball doubleheader — which starts at noon with a matchup between San Diego (2-1) and Lipscomb (2-2) — will be a prelude to the Big West volleyball match between UH and Cal Poly.
The basketball team closes its weekend with a 2 p.m. meeting with Lipscomb on Sunday with the volleyball team’s senior day match with Cal State Bakersfield to follow at 5:30.
Florida Gulf Coast ended last season ranked No. 20 in the country after reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament with an upset for Virginia Tech in the first round. Under the leadership of 24th year coach Karl Smesko, the Eagles consistently rank among the nation’s top 3-point shooting teams, topping the chart each of the last three seasons.
Thoms and Imai will be part of a UH backcourt tasked with contesting the Eagles’ fast-paced attack and closing out on 3-point shooters. FGCU averaged 86.5 point in its first two games led by guards Alyza Winston (20.5 ppg) and Tishara Morehouse (15.5).
“They are so straight forward on their play-style, you know exactly what they’re going to do, but it puts an incredible amount of pressure on you as a defense,” UH associate head coach Alex Delanian said.
“It’s not even so much, ‘can you guard this person?’ It’s, ‘can you sustain the effort for 40 minutes?’ because they’re relentless in what they do.”
UH got off to a hot shooting start as well in draining 12 3-pointers against Oregon State. The Wahine cooled off against Portland’s pressure, other than guard Daejah Phillips’ 25-point performance on 10-for-14 shooting from the field.
The matchup will be the front end of a two-game series with the Eagles, who are in the midst of an 11-day stay on Oahu. FGCU will stick around for next week’s Rainbow Wahine Showdown with a rematch with UH set for Nov. 26.
In fact, the Wahine will play all six of their non-conference home games at 2 or 2:30 p.m. They’ll host the three-day Rainbow Wahine Showdown over Thanksgiving weekend, closing with a meeting with No. 2 Stanford on Nov. 27, and face UNLV on Dec. 11 in their final home appearance of 2022.
UH head coach Laura Beeman cited the events schedule on campus and visiting team’s travel plans among the factors in the team’s consistent mid-afternoon time slot.
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Bank of Hawaii Classic
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
Florida Gulf Coast (2-0) vs. Hawaii (0-2)
>> When: Friday, 2:30 p.m.
>> TV: none
>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
>> Online: ESPN+
