Two days after a second consecutive early exit from the Big West Tournament, the Hawaii women’s basketball team has an opponent to turn its attention to.
The Rainbow Wahine drew No. 2 seed UNLV as their opponent in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament on Thursday in Las Vegas.
The 32-team field, which was announced on Sunday after the NCAA Tournament selection show, includes Hawaii (22-9) for the second straight season.
UH, which lost to California in the first round a year ago, is playing in the postseason for the ninth time in 13 seasons under head coach Laura Beeman.
“We definitely have a good game on our hands,” Beeman said Sunday. “I think it’s going to come down to what Hawaii team shows up. I think if we show up, we have a really good chance of moving on, which is something this program hasn’t been able to do in the postseason.”
Hawaii, which clinched a berth in the tournament by virtue of winning the Big West in the regular season with a 16-4 mark, has not won a postseason game since 2001, when it went 3-1 in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
Like Hawaii, UNLV (25-7) won the regular season in the Mountain West Conference, but lost in the semifinals of its conference tournament.
The WBIT committee seeded the top half of the 32-team field. The remaining 16 teams, including Hawaii, were placed into the bracket as close to their area of natural interest as possible.
“I think’s it’s going to come down to what this team wants to do,” Beeman said. “I am hoping they want to end on a winning note. That they have a chance to sit on a game that feels a little bit better than how the (Big West) tourney ended, we have that opportunity now.”
Thursday’s game is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. Hawaii time tip in Cox Pavilion and will be streamed on ESPN+.
The winner will advance to play the winner between Florida and Northern Iowa in the second round on Sunday.
