HONOLULU — Coming off back-to-back Big West championships and consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the University of Hawai'i women's basketball team opens the 2023-24 regular season with a two-game road trip starting with a matchup with No. 13/15 Stanford on Wednesday, Nov. 8. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. (Pacific) / 5 p.m. (Hawaii time). The Rainbow Wahine continue the Northern California trip by playing at Santa Clara on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m. PT / 11 a.m. HT.
| GM 1&2 | HAWAI'I (0-0, 0-0 BIG WEST) AT No. 13/15 STANFORD (0-0, 0-0 PAC-12) | HAWAI'I AT SANTA CLARA (0-0, 0-0 WCC) |
| Date | Time |
Stanford — Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, 7 p.m. (PT) / 5 p.m. (HT)
Santa Clara — Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023, 1 p.m. (PT) / 11 a.m. (HT) |
| Location |
Stanford — Stanford, Calif., Maples Pavilion
Santa Clara — Santa Clara, Calif., Leavey Center |
| Television |
None |
| Live Stream |
Stanford — pac-12.com Stanford Live Stream
Santa Clara — ESPN+ |
| Radio |
None |
| Live Stats |
Stanford — gostanford.com
Santa Clara — santaclarabroncos.com |
| Game Notes |
Hawai'i | Stanford | Santa Clara |
| Social Media |
@HawaiiWBB  | #HawaiiWBB | @hawaiiwbb  | Facebook  |
HEAD COACH LAURA BEEMAN
At Hawai'i: 180-148 (12th year)
SERIES VS. STANFORD
Overall: Stanford leads 11-0
Last meeting: Nov. 27, 2022 (Stanford won 68-39)
SERIES VS. SANTA CLARA
Overall: Hawai'i leads 7-2
Last meeting: Dec. 10, 2005 (UH won 73-69)
NEWS & NOTES
• UH enters the 2023-24 season as the two-time defending Big West champion after winning back-to-back conference tournament titles. The Rainbow Wahine were voted first in the Big West Preseason Coaches Poll for the second straight year.
• UH will play its first two games on the road for the third straight season, playing a Pac-12/West Coast Conference combo each time. UH opened the 2021-22 schedule with losses at San Diego and USC and fell at Oregon State and Portland to open last season.
• UH rode a 22-0 first-quarter run to a 67-39 win over Hawai'i Hilo in an exhibition game on Nov. 1 at SimpiFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Junior guard Meilani McBee hit four 3-pointers and led UH with 13 points and freshman center Vivienne Berrett added 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field.
SCHEDULING TOUGH
The UH coaching staff has again assembled a challenging non-conference schedule with the aim of preparing the Rainbow Wahine for the Big West season and beyond.
• The 'Bows open the regular season on the road against Stanford, ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press and No. 13 in the USA Today/WBCA preseason polls. The Cardinal, led by Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, went 29-6 last season and was a No. 1 regional seed in the NCAA Tournament. Senior forward Cameron Brink is a preseason Associated Press All-American after averaging 15.1 points and 9.6 rebounds last season.
• Santa Clara was voted third in the West Coast Conference preseason poll. Sophomore guard Tess Heal was a first-team All-West Coast Conference pick and the WCC Newcomer of the Year last season when she averaged 17.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
• UH will also face Washington (receiving votes in the AP poll) in the finale of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown on Nov. 26 and closes the non-conference portion of the schedule at No. 4/8 UCLA on Dec. 21 at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
RELOADED
The Rainbow Wahine bring back 11 letterwinners off of last year's team, including three players — guards Lily Wahinekapu, Meilani McBee and Kelsie Imai — who started at least 20 games and return nearly 76 percent of the team's scoring from last season.
Wahinekapu was one of two players who started all 33 games last season. Guard Daejah Phillips was second on the team with 30.4 minutes per game while coming off the bench for much of the season. Nine returnees averaged at least 12 minutes per game last season.
PRESEASON ACCOLADES
• For the second straight year, the Rainbow Wahine topped the Big West Preseason Coaches Poll. UH received six of 11 first-place votes from the conference's coaches and posted 95 points to lead the poll for the third time since rejoining the conference in 2012.
• Two Rainbow Wahine guards — Lily Wahinekapu and Daejah Phillips — were voted to the Preseason Coaches' Team.
•The Rainbow Wahine enter the season at No. 22 in the collegeinsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top 25. UH is the lone Big West school in the preseason ranking.
#HawaiiWBB
