During a summer of lifeguarding at Kaneohe District Park, Lily Wahinekapu kept a close watch on the swimmers. That pool in the pool included herself.

The Hawaii women’s basketball all-Big West point guard, for the last two years one of the highest-usage players in the conference, had a specific offseason goal in mind for the next lap of her college career.

“It was mainly my stamina. Swimming, trying to lighten the load on my legs and save me for this season,” Wahinekapu said Monday before boarding the team bus to the airport, and from there a flight to the Bay Area for Wednesday’s 5 p.m. Hawaii time 2023-24 opener at No. 15 Stanford, followed by Saturday’s follow-up at Santa Clara.

“I got to swim during my breaks. I just went up and down,” said Wahinekapu, the Iolani alumna who transferred in from Cal State Fullerton and supplied team-bests of 12.5 points, 2.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game her sophomore year. “Controlling my breathing is one of the biggest things for me, too.”

She was in control more often that not in her first year in Manoa as UH (18-15) moved past the Amy Atwell era and ultimately reached the same stage — the first round of the NCAA Tournament against a formidable power-conference foe. UH lost by 23 to eventual national champion LSU.

It was an eye-opening experience that 12^th-year coach Laura Beeman hopes to replicate immediately this year at Maples Pavilion against the elite Cardinal, who were surprised in last year’s NCAA second round by Ole Miss.

“You have to set your schedule to prepare yourself for where you’re trying to get,” Beeman said. “If you get (to the tournament) and every year it’s something new, I think that sets you (behind) a little bit.

“Yeah, our schedule is sometimes really difficult and maybe we need to rethink that going into some years with some teams, but having a veteran team I think we absolutely want to put these young ladies in positions to match themselves up with the best teams in the country, and just see what that feels like.”

Stanford has won 24 straight home openers and has preseason All-America forward Cameron Brink back for her senior year. Brink averaged 15.1 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game in 2022-23.

In then-No. 2 Stanford’s 68-39 win over UH on Nov. 27 in the Rainbow Wahine Showdown last year, the lanky Brink essentially lived up to her averages with 15 points, nine rebounds, five blocks and three steals.

Wahinekapu led UH with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting in that one. Then-freshman Imani Perez, unafraid of going right at several Cardinal players she knew from club and high school ball, scored seven on 3-for-4 shooting. The rest of the team, however, shot 5-for-36 (13.9%).

The supporting cast gradually improved and UH enters the season as the Big West favorite behind a group of returnees that includes guards Daejah Phillips, Olivia Davies, Kelsie Imai, Jovi Lefotu and Ashley Thoms, wing Meilani McBee, and forwards Perez and Jacque David.

Lefotu and David enter the year still on injured reserve from setbacks during 2022-23 and are expected to be back in action in the coming weeks.

Michigan State transfer Brooklyn Rewers was the most notable offseason addition and could be a feature of the starting lineup in a pairing of 6-4 frontcourt players with Perez. That was the look the Wahine opened with in their 67-39 exhibition victory over Hawaii Hilo on Nov. 1.

Freshmen Vivienne Berrett, Jade Peacock and Brooke Murrell are UH’s other newcomers and saw action off the bench against Hilo, with the 6-4 center Berrett scoring 11.

Beeman was pleased with the 22-2 start against the Vulcans — less so with a comparatively stagnant final three quarters. UH needs to minimize its self-inflicted mistakes to have a chance against a team with the caliber of the Cardinal, she said.

“If we do that against Stanford and Santa Clara, we’ll come back with two losses. We have to have some growth. I thought practices the last few days were good. We still need to get some confidence and some chemistry. Very optimistic coming into the weekend, but we need to play better.”

UH got an undisclosed guarantee fee from Stanford for the travel. Santa Clara of the West Coast Conference, 15-17 last year, made for an ideal pairing before UH returns for its home opener against San Francisco on Nov. 17.

“Alex (associate head coach Delanian) does a great job I think with our scheduling,” Beeman said. “He reaches out to people we’ve known for a while. He also reaches out to teams that we know have the opportunity to kick our teeth in. Stanford’s one of those.”

Legendary Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, the winningest coach in college women’s hoops history, needs 17 more victories to break Mike Krzyzewski’s overall record of 1,202.

The Cardinal have not been out of the top 15 in the AP poll since March 5, 2018, a streak of 98 polls.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.