HENDERSON, Nev. — The Hawaii women’s basketball team has yet to wake up.
A dream season continued for the Rainbow Wahine on Saturday night as they came back to defeat UC Irvine 59-48 for the Big West tournament title at Dollar Loan Center and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.
The 2021-22 Wahine became the first team in program history to win the conference tournament and conference regular season in the same year. But to do it, they had to emerge from a first-half slumber.
“It was something we knew we were capable of. It just was whether we were going to do it or not, really,” said guard Olivia Davies. “If we were going to come ready to play, and we didn’t come ready to play. But we figured it out, and it was something like a dream. I feel like I’m in a dream.”
UH (20-9) awaits its NCAA Tournament seeding and destination in Sunday’s selection show at 2 p.m. Hawaii time. The team was in the process of flying back to Honolulu on Saturday night, but it will have to return to the mainland in the next few days likely to play on the campus of their first-round opponent.
“Hopefully we’re not done. A lot of times you get to this point and then it’s like, oh we made the tournament, and then it’s like you kind of lose your focus on why you’re going to the tournament,” said coach Laura Beeman, who has led UH to two of the three conference tournament titles in program history. “I know our draw is going to be very difficult. But we’re not just going to the tournament. We want to win. We want to make a statement, if at all possible.”
Forward Amy Atwell, the sharpshooting star who chose to return for a sixth and final season in order to check off some unfinished business, was named tournament MVP after scoring 11 of her 13 points in the second half.
The Big West Player of the Year wore a “WWE” style championship belt emblazoned with the “H” logo as she shook the hand of Big West Commissioner Dan Butterly to accept tournament MVP honors.
“It’ll sink in a little bit later tonight I think, but yeah, this is what I came back for, and this whole year it’s been about the Big West championship,” Atwell said. “So, to be finally sitting up here, cutting down the nets, it feels pretty great.”
The Wahine rallied from stagnant play and a five-point halftime hole to outscore UCI (21-11) by 16 after intermission and win for the eighth straight time, and 13th time in 14 games. UH made it 3-for-3 this season against the Anteaters, the No. 2 seed in the tournament and team with which UH went to the final game of the regular season to outlast for that title.
As a few hundred UH fans anxiously looked on in the new venue in the Las Vegas Valley, the turning point Saturday was the first basket from Atwell, who had been held without a field goal in the first half. Her first hit from the field, a top-arc 3-pointer with 5:35 left in the third quarter, tied the game at 29 and kicked off a 14-0 run.
“It’s always nice when Amy hits,” Davies said with a laugh. Davies, a third-year freshman, had an old fashioned three-point play the next trip down to really get the momentum turned. Davies scored 14, sinking all nine of her free-throw attempts to join Atwell on the all-tournament team.
Before Atwell’s game-breaking 3, it was actually Davies who broke the seal on UH’s outside shooting after an 0-for-10 first half from behind the arc.
“They’re always harping on us about shot footwork,” Davies said of the UH coaching staff. “So that’s what the focus was. Eyes to rim, left foot down. Just let it fly. And then the shot was going to go in.”
UH went from down five entering the third quarter to up five entering the fourth. The Wahine scored the first eight points of the final period, with Atwell getting fouled on a 3 and sinking all three shots.
Irvine had a 7-0 spurt to get within six, then the teams were deadlocked at 49-43 for nearly four minutes until 1:32 remained. Daejah Phillips, a Las Vegas native, broke the stalemate with two free throws for UH. Although UH went without a field goal for the last 7:45 of the game, the Wahine sank 10 of 12 foul shots over that span to put it away as the Anteaters were forced to go to the foul game.
Amid the rough start, the Wahine frontcourt held the fort while the guards and wings warmed up. Phillips contributed eight points, 10 rebounds and five assists and Nnenna Orji came off the bench to put in 11. The freshman center combined for 19 points and nine boards with starter Kallin Spiller.
UH overcame a 2-for-20 shooting night on 3-pointers by going 27-for-32 (84.4%) on free throws, a statistic that UCI coach Tamara Inoue rued compared to her team's 14 foul shots. But, she also gave credit to the Wahine.
“They finished the second half strong. Best of luck to them,” Inoue said. “I know they’ll represent us (the Big West) well in the tournament.”
UCI’s all-conference guard, Kayla Williams, was held to 4-for-18 shooting and 11 points. The Anteaters were held to 6-for-29 shooting after halftime (20.7%), including 2-for-17 in the fourth quarter (11.8%).
UH was bothered early on by UCI’s trademark fullcourt ball pressure that slowed the Wahine as they tried to enter their sets in a first half in which they shot only 28% and scored 21 points. The Wahine did better against UCI’s fullcourt ball pressure as the game went. The Wahine finished with only nine turnovers – four in the second half – in leaning on point guard Nae Nae Calhoun for ball control in the second half.
Beeman compared the tough start of the game that included several blown layups – a “deer in the headlights” situation – to UH’s brutal start to the season, in which it went 3-6 in conference play, including a 33-point loss at San Diego, a 40-point loss at USC and double-digit home losses to Portland, Utah and Gonzaga.
“We had a couple really tough meetings early in the year, about trying to figure out what this team wanted. Getting rid of some distractions that weren’t good for the health of the team,” Beeman said. “Making sure that our alignment and our commitment were focused towards our goals, and it was it team goals or individual goals? And I think those meetings we were can go right or we can go left – if we go right, we sit here today. If we go left, it’s just going to be a really hard season.
“These guys decided to say hey, let’s get rid of the distractions. Let’s lock into what we need to do. Let’s buy into what this program can do, and then they started celebrating each other in a way that is not often seen.”
Celebrating each other all over again, and having fun, was a big part of the message at halftime.
The Wahine ended the night by snipping the twine off the net piece by piece and dancing with the Rainbow band.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The original story was updated with additional reaction and photos. (March 13, 2022)