Laura Beeman wants to see her team crank up the noise.
Less than 48 hours after the Hawaii women’s basketball team saw its 14-game winning streak end at UC Riverside, the Rainbow Wahine close out the road portion of their regular season today at noon against UC Davis in University Credit Union Center in Davis, Calif.
Hawaii (20-7, 14-3 Big West) was held to 31 points over the final three quarters in Thursday’s loss to the Highlanders, but its trademark defense that has become the calling card of this year’s team was also shaky.
UH allowed 52 points over the final three quarters and looked a step slow at times, much to Beeman’s surprise.
Her biggest issue was the lack of noise from her team on the defensive end of the floor.
“We have to have open discussions about what we got so quiet (and) a little bit disconnected,” Beeman said after Thursday’s game. “I think we’re going to have to be better on defense as far as communicating and finding shooters. Our rotations were really poor. We were not communicating.”
UH allowed UC Riverside to shoot 42.6% (23-for-54) from the field, which is the highest percentage the Rainbow Wahine have allowed in conference play.
Hawaii entered the week leading the country in that category.
The Highlanders clinched the seventh of eight berths into the Big West Conference Tournament with the win.
UC Davis (17-10, 11-6) is currently tied for third in the conference with an outside shot at a double bye in the tournament.
It would need to beat UH to have any chance of catching UC Irvine, which is one game behind Hawaii for first place with three to play.
UC Davis stunned UH in the semifinals of the Big West Conference Championships last season before losing to UCI in the final.
The Aggies are second in the conference in scoring and first in margin of victory, but were held to a season-low 46 points in a 10-point UH win at home in January.
“I don’t think we have any major problems. 14-1 is darn good,” Beeman said. “My concern is Saturday is a really tough game with the travel we have and the team we are facing. We have to have a good response. That’s for sure.”
UC Davis has lost three times by a combined seven points in eight games since it played the Rainbow Wahine.
Senior guard Tova Sabel, who ranks second in the conference in scoring at 15.0 points per game, is also third in the Big West with 55 made 3-pointers.
Hawaii held her to 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting without a 3-pointer made in the first game. UC Davis shot 1-for-21 from the 3-point line.
“I think it’s a little bit easier gameplan in some areas (against UC Davis) with what they do defensively and more difficult in others,” Beeman said. “We’re just going to have to show up. We’re going to have to figure out the adjustments we have to make.”
A win for UH would give it a regular-season sweep of the three teams directly behind it at the top of the Big West standings.
Hawaii will return home to play its final two games inside of SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center next week against Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Northridge.
The Roadrunners and the Matadors are the bottom two teams in the league with a combined record of 4-31.
