The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa women’s basketball team claimed an outright championship with a dominant 85–48 win over CSU Bakersfield in a milestone victory for head coach Laura Beeman on March 9, at the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, California. The win gave Beeman her 200th as Rainbow Wahine head coach.
The Rainbow Wahine hit 17 three–pointers–one shy of the program’s single–game record–in their highest scoring game of the season and finished alone atop the Big West regular–season standings. UH closed the regular season with an overall record of 20–9 and 17–3 in their conference play. The team is now headed into next week’s Big West Championship in Henderson, Nevada, as the No. 1 seed.
Beeman enters the conference tournament with a career record of 200–157 and ranks second in the program’s history in wins.
UH reached the 20–win mark for the fourth time in Beeman’s tenure and 17th time overall and will take a season–high seven–game winning streak to Henderson as they pursue a third straight conference crown.
Beeman shared the spotlight with her coaching staff in her postgame comments.
“The whole staff is here because this is not anything that can be done without this entire group,” Beeman said. “The locker room was amazing, these kids were truly amazing. To win a conference championship outright the way these kids did it, I could not be more proud, this staff could not be more proud. We’re really, really excited to end the regular season this way.”
The team won 11 of their final 12 regular–season games to earn a double–bye in the Big West Championship bracket and will next play in the semifinals on March 15 at the Dollar Loan Center.
Read more at HawaiiAthletics.com
