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Bonus coverage: Rainbow Wahine win Big West Conference Tournament

The UH Wahine basketball team faces UC Davis for the championship of the 2016 Big West Tournament at the Honda Center, Anaheim, CA on March 12, 2016. Photo: Brandon Flores.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — At least one University of Hawai’i basketball team is going to the Big Dance.

The UH women’s team won the Big West Conference Tournament championship with a convincing 78-59 win over UC Davis in the title game on Saturday afternoon at the Honda Center.

“There were some really key moments with this group that brought us together,” head coach Laura Beeman said. “We had some team meetings, some one-on-one conversations. It starts with your seniors. They’ve been through this tournament for four years, and every year they’ve made a big step forward. I think they made a collective decision to say the commitment has to start and we have to believe in our process. Once they bought in, we sat as a coaching staff and knew we could have something special. When we’re on the same page and we do Hawai’i basketball, we’re difficult to beat.”

Senior guard Ashleigh Karaitiana scored 17 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead the Rainbow Wahine. She was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and teammate Desting King joined her on the All-Tournament Team.

The Rainbow Wahine, who were the No. 2 seed, improved to 21-10. They will be playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998. The bracket for the NCAA Women’s Tournament will be announced on Monday.

Please visit www.hawaiiathletics.com for more complete information about the Rainbow Wahine team and their upcoming journey to the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

The UH Wahine basketball team faces UC Davis for the championship of the 2016 Big West Tournament at the Honda Center, Anaheim, CA on March 12, 2016. Photo: Brandon Flores.

The Hawai’i men’s team will try to make it a historic UH basketball sweep later today, as the UH men’s and women’s teams have never won conference tournament titles in the same season.

The Warriors, who are the No. 1 seed in the men’s Big West Tournament, will face No. 3 Long Beach State in the championship game. It is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. (Hawai’i time) and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

Hawai’i is 26-5 and seeking its first Big West championship (the Warriors won three Western Athletic Conference Tournament titles prior to joining the Big West). The last time a UH men’s team advanced to the NCAA Tournament was 2002.

Long Beach State is 20-13, including two victories over the Warriors earlier this season. The 49ers have won five previous Big West Tournament championships, the last coming in 2012.

(Photos courtesy Brandon Flores / www.brandonfloresphotography.com)

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10 Comments

  1. Congratulations Na Wahine!

    Warmed Up a Cold Ducks’ Arena for The WARRIORS,

    Follow Through ‘Bows!
    Finally BEAT / Dominate The Beach
    Just Keep WINNIN’!

    (Thanks, Dayton & Schmidts)

  2. Congratulations Na Wahine !

  3. Congratulations Wahines! Thanks for the coverage. 🙂

  4. What a dominating win for the tournament championship! They played with determination that they would not be denied this year. Congratulations!!

  5. Get some kook fans Try look at Kalei shaking her head at those adults now

  6. Quincy Smith is dressed and ready to go … listed in the starting lineup.

  7. Woohoo Quincy is a warrior!!

  8. Congrats na wahine! Let’s go bows!!

  9. What an amazing night! Both the Wahine and the Men bringing the title home to Hawaii! Do they bring the trophy in their carry-on? Wonder who will get to hold it for

  10. Wonder who will get to hold the trophy for the flight home?

    Thank you to Dayton for the bonus coverage of the Wahine’s win and the cutting the net. Go Bows!

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