One player fell out of the lineup and another was plugged right back in.
Interchangeability worked well Saturday for the Hawaii women’s basketball team, which rode a strong bench effort to a 59-49 victory at Cal State Fullerton to open up the 20-game Big West regular season.
It was UH’s sixth straight win over Big West opponents going back to prior to last season’s championship run through the conference tournament, and third straight win in a Big West opener.
UH (4-6, 1-0 BWC) welcomed power forward Imani Perez back to the lineup after she attended to some personal matters in Colorado. But all-conference guard Daejah Phillips, UH’s bench spark-plug, sat out for undeclared reasons. Guard Jovi Lefotu and forward Jacque David remained out while they recover from last season’s knee injuries.
“Switching out players is not really what I’m anticipating the whole season to be like,” coach Laura Beeman told Spectrum News in a post-game phone interview. “I’d like to have a full team, eventually. But to have Imani back and lose Daejah, and to be able to beat Fullerton at Fullerton – a very, very good team at their place – it goes to show the depth we have. This team is hungry to win and to do something special this year.
"I’m looking forward to everyone coming back and being healthy. When that happens, I don’t know, but as long as we can keep sneaking wins out down players, I guess that’s a good position to be in.”
Titans coach Jeff Harada, a Hawaii native, saw his group fall to 5-7 overall and 1-1 in conference after a big win at Long Beach State on Thursday.
UH was playing for the first time since it got blasted at UCLA by 39 on Dec. 21, and only the third time in December, but the Wahine started strong at Titan Gym anyway.
Even without Phillips, the Wahine got a huge lift from their reserves, as backup guards Ashley Thoms and Kelsie Imai combined for 21 points. UH’s bench outscored that of CSUF 25-4.
Imai, a Waiakea High graduate, was an all-around factor with nine points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Thoms hit a career-best four of five attempts from 3-point range for all of her 12 points.
“Kelsie and Thommie played phenomenal,” Beeman said.
Starting point guard Lily Wahinekapu, the Big West Freshman of the Year at Fullerton in 2021-22, did have her best shooting game (4-for-13, nine points), but contributed four steals in her fourth game against her former school.
Perez had eight points and nine rebounds and wing Meilani McBee scored nine in the well-rounded effort.
UH led 33-19 at halftime and weathered a 10-0 run coming out of the break that included three 3-pointers by Titans guard Fujika Nimmo. The Titans drew within two points twice in the quarter but UH turned them back with a layup by Brooklyn Rewers and a Thoms 3, and UH led by double figures in nearly all of the fourth quarter.
“It’s going to happen against every team we play,” Beeman said of opponents’ rallies. “We got a bullseye on our back. Everyone’s trying to get us, so we’re going to get everybody’s best. We absolutely knew they had a couple runs, but I thought the girls did a good job staying composed.”
Nimmo scored 11 of her 17 points after intermission. Titans center Ashlee Lewis had 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Titans red-shirt freshman guard Kaliana Salazar-Harrell, a Konawaena High graduate, recorded a steal and shot 0-for-2 in 10 minutes off the bench.
UH hosts Cal State Bakersfield (4-7, 1-1) and Cal State Northridge (2-10, 0-2) on Thursday and Saturday. Thursday’s game will be the Wahine’s first at the Stan Sheriff Center since Dec. 3.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.