Thursday’s Big West road game could’ve been dismissed before tipoff as a walkover for the Hawaii women’s basketball team, which had everything to play for and the Cal State Northridge Matadors very little.
Just one problem – CSUN, with just one win and 18 conference losses on its ledger, never got the memo. The Rainbow Wahine had to scrap with the Matadors down to the final seconds to earn a 65-62 victory at Premier America Credit Union Arena that clinched the No. 1 seed in next week’s Big West championships in Henderson, Nevada, and gave UH at least a share of the league regular-season title for the second time in three years.
In the immediate aftermath, UH coach Laura Beeman balanced disappointment at her team’s lack of focus with pride in the group in backing up its preseason prediction at No. 1. MeiLani McBee hit a season-high five 3-pointers and scored 18 points, Lily Wahinekapu had a key late bucket among her 16 points and center Brooklyn Rewers had her second double-double of the season and first since November.
“You can’t take anybody for granted,” Beeman told Hawaii media in a video call. “We have to show up and play. Going into the tournament, every single team wants to beat us. We’re the No. 1 seed, everyone’s gunning for us.”
UH (19-9, 16-3 Big West) can win the regular-season title outright at Cal State Bakersfield (8-20, 5-14) at noon Hawaii time Saturday before the Rainbow Wahine fly to Las Vegas. A victory would also be the 200th in Beeman’s 12-year UH career.
Beeman acknowledged that Thursday’s game felt much like a March battle of two years ago – a 1 versus 9 matchup with Cal State Bakersfield in the first round of the Big West tournament, a tilt UH was heavily favored to win but one that went down to the finish.
“It’s that first (tournament) game that’s always so challenging, and I felt like tonight’s game was very much that,” Beeman said. “Trying to get them focused, and get the energy up, and execute. … It’s hard to keep these young ladies focused on the present (task) because of what we’re trying to do. It absolutely felt like that. There was a point at the end of the game where I was like, here’s (the) first round at Henderson. There’s some things we’ve got to figure out fast and in a hurry.”
Freshman Jade Peacock, in at forward for the injured Imani Perez, hit a 3 to help UH claw out of an 18-9 hole to begin the game. It launched a 20-2 run and UH would take a seven-point lead into halftime.
UH led by 10 on a layup by Jacque David, who scored 10 points, with 7:52 to play. But the Matadors (3-27, 1-19) would creep within a point twice – separated by a Wahinekapu bank shot in the lane – in the final minute of their senior night and the Wahine did just enough to extend the lead at the foul line.
Talo Li-Uperesa led CSUN with 18 points.
Members of the Rainbow Wahine ohana extended condolences this week to the family of Patsy Dung, the first coach in program history who died Monday at age 87.
Beeman said she had the opportunity to meet Dung a handful of times during her 12 years as coach – including most recently at the “Beeman’s Big Bash” event on Feb. 17.
Dung, a physical education teacher at Farrington High, was hired in 1974 by Dr. Donnis Thompson to lead the first season of Rainbow Wahine basketball. Dung went 31-20 over five seasons against all-college opposition. She never had a losing record in a season.
“She is the reason I’m the head coach at the University of Hawaii," Beeman said. "She was a trailblazer. Everybody that came after her is fortunate that she came in and fought for this program and fought for the rights of these kids and to get women’s basketball on the map. And so, looking back I wish I could’ve spent more time with her. I know I could’ve learned from her for sure. But I am incredibly honored and humbled to be coaching this program after someone as great as her."
Vince Goo, the winningest coach in program history, said Dung was still a staple at Wahine games in her later years.
“Right up until recently, Patsy attended all the games, still supporting the program,” Goo said, per UH. “When I was coaching, she sat in same section, same seat and always had a smile on her face when we won. All of the successes we had and all of the success Laura Beeman is having, can be attributed directly to Patsy. She started it all way back when. And I'm just glad our teams were able to keep it going. What Laura and the team is doing right now, on the verge of winning yet another championship, goes back to Patsy. She was always a positive person, and I enjoyed our many conversations about the game of basketball. She will be sorely missed.”
Services are pending. More tributes to Dung may be seen here.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.