Women's Hoops Releases High-Powered 2012-13 Schedule - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

Women's Hoops Releases High-Powered 2012-13 Schedule

HONOLULU—(Hawaii Athletics) University of Hawai‘i women's basketball head coach Laura Beeman released the 2012-13 schedule which includes 21 home games featuring 12 teams that saw post-season action last year—six teams that played in the NCAA tournament and six teams that competed in the WNIT tournament. The Rainbow Wahine will open the season on the road for the sixth time in program history with a single game at San Francisco before hosting a trio of high-caliber tournaments. The non-conference pre-season schedule has UH playing teams from seven different conferences. The 2012-13 season also marks UH's return to the Big West Conference after 16 years in the Western Athletic Conference.
 
Highlighting the early gauntlet of vaunted non-conference opponents are the defending NCAA champions Baylor, national semifinalist and 12-time defending PAC-12 champions Stanford, and two-time defending Ohio Valley Conference champs Tennessee-Martin. The Bears went undefeated in 2012 behind the phenomenal play of Brittney Griner and set a new NCAA record with a perfect 40-0 record. These three teams will kick-off UH's 2012-13 home schedule in the three-day, Jack in the Box Rainbow Wahine Classic. UH will face UTM in the home opener on Friday, Nov. 16 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
 
The Rainbow Wahine will then host the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Showdown during Thanksgiving week, with Oregon, Arkansas and Oklahoma all coming to Honolulu (Nov. 23-25).
 
Hawai‘i will play a single game against Utah on Dec. 1 before taking a 26-day break during finals that will end with the Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Invitational that runs from Dec. 28-30. Long Island, Cincinnati, and Alabama will all be participating in UH's final non-conference tournament of the season.
 
The Rainbow Wahine will start the New Year by returning to their "new" conference, the Big West. The Big West is a 10-team league in which each team will play home-and-away against every squad. Last year's regular season champion was Cal Poly with a 12-4 conference record, while UC Santa Barbara captured the Big West Tournament to earn the automatic NCAA bid. In all five Big West teams advanced to the postseason, with UC Davis, Pacific, and Cal State Northridge all being invited to the WNIT. The Big West Tournament will be played in Anaheim, Calif. from March 13-16.
 
"The 2012-2013 schedule is exciting and challenging. Our pre-season slate will challenge our resolve as a team," Beeman said. "I have always said that a basketball season is a marathon not a sprint.  We may start out slow, but we will never lose sight of our ultimate goal. I hope everyone who watches us play remembers this as we face the top teams and players in the country in the months of November and December. Conference action will be exciting and with the experience we gained from non-conference season we will be ready to tackle the Big West with confidence and a hunger to win!"
 
The Rainbow Wahine return six players who saw action on the court last season as well as a pair of players who red-shirted—freshman guard Ashleigh Karaitiana and senior transfer point guard Janelle Nomura. The ‘Bows are led by Kamilah Jackson who earned second-team all-WAC honors as a sophomore last season. She led UH with 13.2 points and was ranked 13^th in the NCAA with 10.6 rebounds per game and 15^th with 16 double-doubles. Returning with Jackson are sophomore center Kalei Adolpho, junior forward Vicky Tagalicod, junior guards Kanisha Bello and Sydney Haydel, and junior guard/forward Shawna-Lei Kuehu who played just seven games as a sophomore before missing the rest of the season.

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