LSU’s first-round NCAA tournament opponent Hawaii is the kind high seeds fear but one Tigers coach Kim Mulkey respects deeply.
The Rainbow Wahine come to Baton Rouge as the team that won’t quit, whether it’s down 15 at halftime or down to its last possession. They did both in their Big West championship game victory against UC-Santa Barbara on a three-point play by Daejah Phillips with 3.4 seconds.
“The reporter asked her ‘Were you surprised?’” Mulkey said. “She answered, ‘No, I’m a winner.’ If you’ve got players on your team that have that mentality, they’re bringing it. We’d better be ready.”
Resilience has been the buzz word for Hawaii, whose program owns one NCAA tournament victory and started the season 1-7 against the likes of tournament teams Stanford, Florida Gulf Coast and UNLV. They lost three starters to injuries, which contributed to an up-and-down middle of the season until finally catching fire by winning seven of nine.
“This last chunk of the season is because we finally had some continuity with our rotations,” said veteran coach Laura Beeman, making her third NCAA tournament appearance in her 11th season. “It’s hard to come up with practice plans, starting lineups and a game plan when two days before you play, two kids go down. The physical and emotional toll was a gut punch to this team.
“We had to take a deep breath, talk about our process, what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. We all got into the fetal position and cried. Then we said, ‘Let’s go out and do it.’ The effort and enthusiasm for each other has been tremendous. I attribute it to these kids’ resilience and how they like to play for one another.”
The Wahine nearly didn’t make it out of their conference tournament. It took a last-second 3-pointer by Meilani McBee to extend their first-round game against Cal State Fullerton to a second overtime before Hawaii won 82-75. Then came the championship game comeback, scoring more points in the fourth quarter (25) than they did in the first half. Hawaii sank 6 of 8 3-pointers in that quarter.
Hawaii entered the season as an underdog after losing Big West player of the year Amy Atwell. But leading scorer Lily Wahinekapu, Big West freshman of the year, transferred home from Cal State Fullerton and proved to be a perfect fit. She’s averaging 12.6 points per game as the point guard that makes the team go.
“We wanted her to come home. We knew she would be a good fit for us,” Phillips said. “She was going to do it for Hawaii and that’s exactly what we did. We helped her get a ring, celebrate and win a championship for Hawaii.”
Phillips, who averages 11 points, has also been huge as perhaps a symbol of the program. At midseason, she asked Beeman if she could come off the bench and the team has won 13 of 18 games since. Beeman said she’s not the first player to make such a request and it’s a good example of the diversity of her system.
“We’ve had one player of the year; we’ve had three or four sixth man (winners),” Beeman said. “We play team basketball. She felt she needed to see the game better. It helped her mental game. This has been a recipe for success in the past. She’s a selfless kid. She will do what it takes to make this team successful.”
Beeman said she knows her team is in a David vs. Goliath situation but says she’s “humbled” by the way her team has trusted her through the adversity. Her players echo the sentiment.
“It’s anybody’s game if we come ready to play,” Phillips said. “Go out there and play hard because it’s a winnable game. Playing those teams in the preseason gave us a feel for what we have coming Friday. I think we’re ready.”
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