Wahine basketball: Beeman pleased with first practice
After the Rainbow Wahine basketball team’s first official practice of the season, head coach Laura Beeman came away pleased with the effort over the 2 1/2 hour workout in Gym 1.
“Overall, pleased,” Beeman said, “but not satisfied.”
The Wahine began preparations for the coming season in full on Monday night coming off a 23-9 season and as the defending Big West regular-season champions. A loss to CSUN in the Big West tournament title game separated them from an NCAA tournament berth and they closed the season with an overtime loss at Saint Mary’s in the program’s third straight WNIT appearance.
Taking the next step remains a goal, but the Wahine opened practice focused on the process rather than the destination.
“Coach is going to continually tell us it’s a process,” senior Ashleigh Karaitiana said before practice. “We’re not worried about the end result right now. It’s the process of us getting better each and every day.”
Karaitiana was especially appreciative of the opportunity to practice after being granted another year of eligibility by the NCAA.
“It’s really rewarding,” she said. “The biggest thing for me is it gives me a chance to make up for what I didn’t get to do last year.”
Beeman said she’ll review the tape of Monday’s practice but was impressed by the performances of several players, including freshman guard Olivia Crawford, who could end up handling much of the point guard duties.
“I thought she looked really good,” Beeman said. “(Guard) Bri Harris, I thought got up and down the floor very well. I thought Kalei Adolpho had a great practice. Got really good depth, finished very nicely, did some good things.”
Adolpho rejoins the basketball program after sitting out last year to focus on her senior season with the Wahine volleyball team. Megan Huff is now a full-time basketball player after sharing time with volleyball last year. They add depth in a post rotation that returns 6-4 senior Connie Morris and 6-3 Brianna Kennedy, who also sat out last year after transferring from Loyola Marymount.
“We’re big,” Beeman said. “We’re long, so when we make mistakes defensively our length kind of makes up for it.”
Beeman also noted freshman Lahni Salanoa, who joined the team along with twin sister, Leah.
“I thought Lahni Salanoa did a really good job of running one through four. Rebound and run, pushed tempo, breaking the press, posting up, hitting a 3.”
Late in the practice, Beeman split the 15-player roster into three teams and had them rotate in full court five-on-five periods to test their conditioning.
“I didn’t want to do it with just straight sprints,” Beeman said. “I wanted to do it five-on-five full court so our bodies get used to doing that.
“I’d like to be able to pick up full court a lot more this year than we’ve ever done the past three years and I think we have the depth and the length and the IQ to be able to pick up and cause some problems for some teams.”
Yes, all of that, plus you need a player or players that can hit the 3. It looks like another exciting season. All thanks to coach Beeman who has developed a great basketball culture. They’re only going to get better and better.
volleyball loss, is basketball gain, go Megan!
Coach Laura Beeman’s high IQ/BB player graduated. Shawna-Lei Kuehu.
I dont see a replacement among our guards who can lead an intelligent disciplined back court press without turning it into a key-stone cop comedy gone berserk. Granted, Beeman may be stocked with a generous supply of ever ready rabbits energized to run. The challenge is to get them to move in the same direction at the same time while maintaining control. Wahine are notorious for over dribbling and making errant passes on the run. Kuehu was a brilliant exception in turn over transition. She had BB IQ to go along with everything else she possessed.
re #2. For years I was frustrated with the high number of turnovers by the Wahine BB team when pressed in the back court or force-feeding ill-advised passes to the middle. Last year the Wahine improved markedly in these areas. One reason for this was the Wahine players in the past were often overmatched physically and athletically. I think Coach Laura Beeman have upgraded the recruiting so that these type of mismatches have lessened considerably. Basketball often comes down to individual match-ups or one-on-one basketball. Who can physically dominate, the offensive player or the defensive player. You are right in that Shawna-Lei Kuehu was one of the few Hawaii players who could consistently beat opponents off the dribble. Hope Hawaii can find in this year’s team someone with this ability.
Hawaii is lucky to have Beeman as women’s coach. She knows basketball, cool, very tactical. She has that aura of confidence and appears to portrays that quality into her players.
Glad she’s returning. With her winning record last year I wasn’t too optimistic about her returning.
chief, i agree with you about how good beeman is for the uh wahine program. i’ve been a beeman believer almost from day one, but i’m alittled disappointed in her recruiting thus far. i continue to hope that recruiting improves in the future.