Wahine open North Shore road trip

The Rainbow Wahine basketball team opens its shortest “road trip” of the season by taking on BYU today in the front end of a two-game stay on the North Shore.

“It’s not our home court, but it’s definitely not 2,500 miles,” UH coach Laura Beeman said earlier this week.

The Rainbow Wahine (4-3) drove out to Laie on Wednesday and face BYU (3-3) today at 6 p.m. in the Tom Weston Classic at BYU Hawaii’s Cannon Activities Center. They’ll take on No. 12 Texas A&M (5-1) on Friday at 5 p.m.

UH took a day off on Monday following a three-day run in the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Shootout then had two practice days to prepare for another tournament.

The Wahine closed last weekend with a 67-51 loss to No. 2 South Carolina and Beeman was encouraged by the progress she saw coming off a lopsided loss to Arizona State last Saturday.

“One, we have confidence,” Beeman said. “Even though we lost I think the girls feel good about themselves and how they rebounded from Saturday night to Sunday and the adjustments we were able to make against a very good South Carolina team.

“So I definitely feel we got better. I think we have some things to grow on but I think the biggest thing is we’re going to feel confident and good about where we are.”

Destiny King moved into the team’s scoring lead with 15 points against South Carolina and enters the game averaging 10.1 per game followed by Megan Huff at 10 ppg. Huff is also UH’s leading rebounder with 6.3 per game.

BYU’s stay will be a homecoming for two projected starters in senior guard Kylie Maeda (‘Iolani, ’12) and freshman forward Jasmine Moody (Radford, ’15). Kamehameha graduate Alohi Robins-Hardy is also on the roster, but is playing with the volleyball team in the NCAA tournament.

Moody had nine points and four rebounds and Maeda contributed five points and three assists in BYU’s 85-40 win over BYU Hawaii on Wednesday.

In scouting BYU, Beeman noted the production of guards Lexi Rydalch (22.3 points per game) and Makenzi Pulsipher (11.1 ppg). Rydalch had 25 points on 10-for-15 shooting and went 3-for-5 from 3-point range against BYUH.

“Just very prolific scorers who can find their shots off of one-on-one, can find their shots off drive-and- kick, posting up,” Beeman said. “They’re going to pose some match up problems just with their efficiency and their savvy.”