Rainbow Wahine prepare for tests on the road

Along with studying its upcoming opponents, the Rainbow Wahine basketball team will also focus on final exams during their second road trip of the season.

The Rainbow Wahine departed for California on Wednesday morning and are scheduled to practice in Los Angeles in preparation for Saturday’s game at Loyola Marymount. They’ll also finish out finals week on the road and the UH coaching staff coordinated with LMU to help facilitate the tests some of the players have remaining.

“We’ve already set that up with professors and department chairs at LMU,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “The girls are taking their tests at exactly the same time in California as they would be taking them here, so there’s no unfair advantage.”

“It’s something the NCAA allows and you just have to communicate between the two universities.”

While the team will also be preparing for two games in California, academics “comes first,” Beeman said. “It always has, it always will.”

Although it might take a bit more planning, Beeman said having the team together on the road can have its advantages during finals week.

“I actually think we can put the girls on more of a lockdown on the road trip, because I know exactly what they’re doing and I know how much they’re studying,” she said.

The Rainbow Wahine enter the road trip at 5-4 and take on LMU (2-6) on Saturday at noon Hawaii time. UH also faces Cal State Bakersfield (6-3) of the Western Athletic Conference on Tuesday.

After the CS Bakersfield game, most of the players will stay on the mainland and spend Christmas at their homes. Beeman said Shawna-Lei Kuehu and freshman Breana Jones, who has family in Hawaii, will be the only players returning to Hawaii immediately after the game.

They’ll reconvene for practice on Dec. 28 in advance of their game against Hawaii Pacific on New Year’s Eve.