HONOLULU — Amy Atwell’s final shot is also her best.
If the Australian forward has her way, her record-setting, six-year collegiate basketball career will be recognized at the same time as a conference championship on Saturday, when Big West-contending Hawaii plays its final home game of the 2021-22 season.
The last four months have been a showcase of Atwell’s transformation from a sweet-shooting player with longevity to one of all-around excellence, a leap that’s coincided with UH’s return to prominence in the conference.
The all-time UH 3-point record? The 1,000-point club? The most conference player of the week awards in a season (four) by any Wahine player ever? All those mean little to her if UH is not able to secure the regular-season championship, or even more importantly, win the Big West tournament in Las Vegas next week to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2016.
It was the whole reason Atwell put off real life for another year and took advantage of the additional COVID season afforded by the NCAA; there was unfinished business to address. UH last went to the Big Dance the year before her arrival from Perth and was only in contention for a title one other time, three years ago.
“The switch really clicked this last offseason when I went home for the summer. This is kind of it,” Atwell recalled. “It is going to be my last year, my last chance to make my stamp, leave my mark on the program and the state of Hawaii. Go out achieving what I wanted to achieve in my time here.”
UH (15-9, 11-3 BWC) enters Thursday’s game against Cal State Northridge effectively a half-game up on UC Irvine (12-4), which has played more games due to UH’s COVID protocol cancelations of the early January schedule. The regular-season title and top seeding in the Big West tournament will come down to winning percentage.
UH closes the regular season on “Atwell Night” Saturday against UC Santa Barbara and can clinch the title with a sweep this week, or a split week plus an Irvine loss to either Cal Poly or Cal State Bakersfield. Likely, UH will need to sweep its opponents as Irvine’s foes are a combined 5-20 in conference play.
“What I hope for Amy, quite honestly, is that we win two games this week and win a conference championship,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “That is what she wants. If that happens, then player of the year will unfold for her as it should.”
Atwell, at 18.0 points per game, is the conference scoring leader by a wide margin, and is fourth in field-goal percentage (.451), second in free-throw percentage (.848) and sixth in rebounding at 6.6 per game.
UH has not had a conference player of the year since Raylene Howard went back-to-back in the WAC in 1998-99 and 1999-2000. The school’s only Big West player of the year was Judy Mosley back in 1989-90.
The 6-foot Atwell, with her quick and high shot release, has risen to that tier. She has the highest scoring average for a Wahine player since Howard’s 20.5 in 98-99. She eclipsed Megan Tinnin for career 3-pointers with her 168th on Feb. 5, and has 185 and counting.
Atwell is currently tied for 14th on the Wahine career scoring list with 1,167 points alongside Ashleigh Karaitiana and can move into the top 10 by the end of the week, should she surpass 1,200.
Echoing Beeman’s sentiments, Atwell’s teammates have been open in saying that they are playing in large part for their captain, who concedes that she is not the most outspoken person but tries to “lead by following.”
That includes being the receiving end of “grandma” jokes from teammates several years younger. Atwell, 23, has seen players arrive after her, play full undergraduate careers, and go on their way. She has been around so long — more than half of Beeman’s decade tenure in Manoa — that she’s seen the assistant coach who recruited her to UH, Alex Delanian, leave to take a job at UC Santa Barbara in 2017, then come back to Manoa.
Center Kallin Spiller, who joined the team as a graduate student this season from prior stints at Seattle University and Columbia, called it a “joy” to play with Atwell because of her humility in a leader’s role.
The team’s second-leading scorer, second-year freshman Daejah Phillips, goes to Atwell when she needs advice on how she’s being defended. Phillips credits her for opening up driving lanes in their pick-and-rolls together due to the attention Atwell demands.
“She deserves everything she’s gotten this year,” Phillips said. “She’s a great player. She works hard. She doesn’t let the team slack in practice. She’s a great leader.”
It was not always thus.
It was a career that began with a misfire, as Atwell arrived out of Penrhos College in Western Australia with a pure shooting stroke but also a torn ACL that caused her to spend her entire first season rehabbing. Subsequent knee injuries followed.
The goal of becoming a pro player seemed far removed; by her own admission her dedication to the game was not where it needed to be.
That first year was the toughest, as she battled homesickness and cried in her dorm room frequently. Much of the time, all she could do was hoist shots using her upper body because of her leg immobility.
But in the long run, those difficulties helped mold her.
“Part of the reason I became such a good shooter is it allowed me to stay out of the paint,” Atwell said with a laugh. “It took the pounding and the physicality out of the game a little bit, to protect myself, my body and my knee at times.”
Last year, her first as the team’s No. 1 scoring option, Atwell struggled to be an efficient player, shooting just 38.3% from the field as UH went 7-6 in conference play.
Atwell’s summer trip back to Perth lasted three months. There, she resolved to become a more well-rounded threat to not only help the team, but showcase herself to pro scouts for what she hopes is a career in her homeland or abroad. That meant putting in only one day a week on the basketball court and four or five in the weight room.
“I knew if I wanted to take that next step in my game, I had to grow my game (to) take it inside more and physically handle that,” she said.
Strengthening her knee was paramount, but her upper-body strength saw some of the biggest improvement as she became able to do nine pull-ups without assistance. Her overall conditioning followed suit; she now tolerates running instead of dreading it.
The difference was clear this year. Atwell was driving, posting, and scoring inside at a rate unlike any time previously over the last half-decade. While she has still shot the ball well from outside this year — 37.8% from long range — she depends on the long ball far less to score. Only about 39% of her points have come on 3s this year, compared to about 50% last year and 66% in 2019-20, when she had perhaps the best overall 3-point shooting season in program history — 63 3s made at a 45.3% clip.
Atwell is demanding attention from defenders at a level commensurate to her output this year, but has still found new ways to get her shot off, like step-backs and crossover dribbles. She converted a four-point play that way against UC Irvine to help the Wahine take back first place from the Anteaters two weeks ago.
She is 10 3s shy of matching her good friend and former teammate Julissa Tago (2016-20) for the single-season triples record of 66.
“It’s been incredible watching her grow as not only a human being but a basketball player,” Tago said. “As her best friend I’ve watched her hit some highs and some really low lows but one thing that never failed was her perseverance. This season for her was a testament to how committed she was and really just staying the course. I couldn’t be happier for her and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for her.”
The Wahine entered the year with a young roster and struggled to a 3-6 record in nonconference play as Beeman sorted through patchwork lineups with freshmen and players missing time due to injuries and health protocols.
But roles and rotations have been established and UH has won eight of its last nine games, putting itself in position for the program's fifth regular-season championship and first since 2014-15.
Factoring in the standing of the team and Atwell’s individual accolades, her 2021-22 season has quantitatively become one of the best all-time submitted by a Rainbow Wahine. Her family from Australia navigated pandemic-era travel hurdles and is in town this week to see her honored.
“To continue watching her reach these goals, watch us reach goals as a team because of her, it is really one of those moments as a coach you look back and say, ‘this is why I do what I do,’” Beeman said.
She compared Atwell’s career to a player she coached while she was on staff at USC, Jacki Gemelos, who had multiple knee injuries over her career but persevered to play professionally and went on to coach in the WNBA. But, Beeman noted, she was only an assistant on that team and overlapped with Gemelos for a shorter time.
“That’s the comparison, to overcoming injuries, staying the course ... wanting to go pro, people believing in her. She’s the kind of kid you want to coach once in your career,” Beeman said. “That’s Amy Atwell.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed the opponent for Saturday’s game. The error has been corrected. (March 2, 2022)