Wahine face BYUH, Tago in action at ‘Iolani

While the Rainbow Wahine basketball team prepares for an exhibition game with BYU Hawaii tonight, a future member of the program will be in action a few blocks down University Ave.

Julissa Tago, a UH signee, is in town with the South Medford (Ore.) High School basketball team and the Lady Panthers open play in the ‘Iolani Prep Basketball Classic girls tournament against Punahou today at 5 p.m. The South Medford-Punahou winner will play Mililani or top-ranked Konawaena in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The losers meet in the consolation bracket at 3:30.

Tago, a 5-foot-9 guard, averaged 17.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists as a junior and is a two-time All-State pick. South Medford is ranked fifth in the Oregonian’s Class 6A media poll.

The South Medford-Punahou game should be just about wrapping up when Tago’s future teammates take the floor against BYUH.

The exhibition breaks up a 16-day break between regular-season games and will be UH’s last appearance at the Stan Sheriff Center of 2015. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. Stan Lee will be covering the game for the Star-Advertiser.

The Wahine took the weekend off following the Tom Weston Classic in Laie last week and returned to practice on Tuesday. An 82-41 loss to Texas A&M last Friday capped a five-game run that included three nationally ranked teams and UH coach Laura Beeman said the Wahine “know they need to get better.”

“They’re definitely not happy with the way that they played, now it’s just making some changes to ensure that doesn’t happen again,” she said.

After the game, Beeman said she plans to give the players the weekend off again to prepare for final exams. They’ll head to Northern California late next week and face Sacramento State on Dec. 20 and San Jose State on Dec. 22.

The players will have time to spend Christmas with their families before reconvening ahead of their Dec. 30 rematch with CSU Bakersfield.

“It’s a challenging time of year but it’s fun,” Beeman said.