Beeman hopes Wahine will hit their peak in few weeks

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Imani Perez looked to pass against UC San Diego Tritons Junaé Mahan during a Big Best Women’s basketball game on Saturday, Feb. 22, at the SimpliFi Arena, Stan Sheriff Center.
Laura Beeman was somewhat hesitant to provide a specific percentage of how much better her Hawaii women’s basketball team could get this season, before eventually settling on a range.
“I don’t want us to play our best basketball yet. I want us to play our best basketball in a couple of weeks,” said Beeman, before leaving for the West Coast on Tuesday. “If I had to guess a number, I think we’re still like 25 to 30 percent away from what we can do.”
Hawaii (20-6, 14-2) has stormed through the Big West Conference regular season with 14 consecutive wins entering today’s game at UC Riverside (13-14, 9-8).
UH has clinched a double bye in the Big West tournament and its magic number to earn the top seed over UC Irvine is two with four games to play.
Beeman has her sights set on much bigger things in March as UH tries to lock up its third Big West regular-season championship in the last four seasons.
“Taking first place would be nice. If we were to win the tournament, that would be great, but we have expectations beyond that,” Beeman said after UH’s win over UC San Diego on Saturday. “We look at four regular-season games and hopefully two in the conference tournament and then hopefully more than that. We’ve got to continue to find ways to win and clean the few things that we need to clean up.”
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Those issues primarily are on the offensive side of the ball. Hawaii enters its final four games of the regular season seventh in the league in scoring at 59.9 points per game and turnovers per game with a 16.5 clip.
Despite that, UH’s scoring margin is second at 7.4 points per game, trailing only the 12.1 margin by UC Davis, which Hawaii will play Saturday.
Hawaii ranks fourth in the country in scoring defense at 52.5 points per game allowed and second in 3-point percentage allowed (24.8%).
No team in the nation is better at field-goal percentage defense as Hawaii allows opposing team to shoot an NCAA-worst 32.7% from the field.
“That’s huge. That means our team has put in a lot of work and we’ve obviously executed a lot of things,” junior forward Imani Perez said. “Mostly just that we’ve put in a lot of work to get to that point.”
Perez, who is 6 feet 4, is at the very center of that defense in her ability to defend on the perimeter and inside of the key.
She is one of four players averaging more than 26 minutes a game, with 7.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game on 48.2% shooting from the field.
Like her head coach, Perez believes as successful as the Rainbow Wahine have been so far, there is the potential to be so much better.
“I think once we get there, we will be unstoppable,” Perez said. “It will be insane to watch how we get there and when we get there, and I just think it will be crazy and everybody will love it just as much as we will.”
Hawaii broke into the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 this week at No. 25.
After Saturday’s game against the Aggies (17-10, 11-6), UH returns home for its final two games at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center next week against Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Northridge.
Hawaii would have to lose at least three of its final four games to avoid winning the regular season in the Big West.
The regular-season title would lock up an automatic berth in the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament, which UH played in last year, losing to California in the first round.
“Each team (I’ve been on) has been super successful. Last year we lost two people that were core people, but I just think this season is a different drive,” Perez said. “We’re obviously doing things right that are helping.”
RAINBOW WAHINE BASKETBALL
At SRC Arena, Riverside, Calif.
Hawaii (20-6, 14-2 Big West) vs. UC Riverside (13-14, 9-8)
Today, 4 p.m.
At University Credit Union Center, Davis, Calif.
Hawaii vs. UC Davis (17-10, 11-6)
Saturday, noon
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>> Stream: ESPN+
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