The Hawaii women’s basketball team is making its fourth consecutive postseason appearance and ninth overall in 13 years under head coach Laura Beeman.
It’s an impressive statistic, even though the Rainbow Wahine are not in the tournament they were hoping for when they left for Nevada more than a week ago.
Hawaii (22-9) has remained in Las Vegas for the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament, which begins today with the Rainbow Wahine playing host UNLV in Cox Pavilion at 3:30 p.m. Hawaii time.
UH qualified for the 32-team field by winning the Big West Conference regular season with a 16-4 record, which included a 14-game winning streak after starting 0-2.
The Rainbow Wahine are in the same situation as a year ago. Hawaii was bounced as the No. 1 seed in the Big West Championship in the semifinals for the second consecutive season when it failed to score 50 points in a loss to No. 4 seed UC San Diego. UCSD was ousted by Southern 68-56 in an NCAA Tournament play-in game of 16th seeds on Wednesday.
That was the tournament Hawaii was hoping to play in, with a better seed. Instead, it’s gut-check time for a team in a secondary tournament it didn’t set out to be a part of.
Last year, UH played one of its better games in this situation, trailing by two in the final minute before losing to Cal in the first round of the WBIT.
“I thought this team could have rolled over. They had every reason to show up today and go through the motions and get smacked, and they didn’t,” Beeman said after last season’s 65-60 loss to Cal.
That’s what she is going for again this season.
After the announcement of Hawaii’s first-round game against UNLV on Sunday, Beeman repeated different versions of the same point in a Zoom call with local reporters.
“We have to be focused. We have to have a few days of good practice where we get the scout going on UNLV,” Beeman said. “We still have an opportunity to continue to play. This team has done some really special things this year.”
Last season’s team had two players leaving to graduation. This year, Hawaii has a senior class of six players who celebrated their final home game in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center two weeks ago.
How motivated they are will go a long way in determining today’s outcome.
“Looking back at Cal, I thought we played a really great game,” Beeman said. “I think once we got in the game and we started playing, the girls wanted to win. I think that experience, let’s not wait, let’s prepare like we’re supposed to, let’s take this serious, let’s get an energy and motivation about us and we have a chance to advance. We could have and should have beat them and so I’m hoping our seniors will remember what that felt like and will help to motivate the underclassmen … so I do think that experience will matter.”
Hawaii hasn’t won a postseason game since 2001, when the Rainbow Wahine went 3-1 in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament and advanced to the semifinals.
UH has played in the NCAA Tournament three times, the WNIT four times and will make its second appearance in the WBIT under Beeman.
Hawaii is 6-21 all-time in postseason play and 4-17 against UNLV in Las Vegas.
The Rebels went 16-2 in league play to win a fourth consecutive Mountain West regular-season title before losing to San Diego State in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
Forward Meadow Roland was named the MWC Sixth Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year after averaging 9.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
At Cox Pavilion, Las Vegas
Hawaii (22-9) vs. UNLV (25-7)
First Round
>> When: Today, 3:30 p.m.
>> Stream: ESPN+
>> Radio: 1420-AM
