BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — After locking up the No. 1 seed in the Big West Championship, the University of Hawai'i women's basketball team will look to claim the conference's regular-season title outright when the Rainbow Wahine close the schedule at CSU Bakersfield on Saturday, March 9 at the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, Calif. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. Pacific Time (noon Hawai'i time).

The Rainbow Wahine clinched at least a share of the regular-season crown with a 65-62 win at CSUN on Thursday. The regular-season title is UH's second in the last three years, the third under head coach Laura Beeman, and sixth overall (five in the Big West and one in the Western Athletic Conference). UH enters the regular-season finale one game ahead of UC Irvine. The 'Bows swept both meetings with the Anteaters this season to earn the tiebreaker edge.

• As a top-two seed, UH earned a double-bye in the Big West Championship in Henderson, Nev. The two-time defending champion Rainbow Wahine will play in the first semifinal on March 15 at noon Pacific Time (9 a.m. Hawai'i time) at the Dollar Loan Center. UC Irvine will be the No. 2 seed and plays in the second semifinal.
 
• UH enters Saturday's game at CSU Bakersfield on a season-high six-game winning streak and has won 10 of the last 11 games. The six-game streak is the longest since the 'Bows won their last eight Big West games (including the conference tournament) in 2022.

• UH coach Laura Beeman enters the regular-season finale with 199 wins in her 12-year UH career. 

• Guards Daejah Phillips and Lily Wahinekapu continue to trade the team scoring lead. Wahinekapu moved ahead on Thursday with a 16-point performance at CSUN and averages 11.3 points per game followed by Phillips at 11.0.

• MeiLani McBee hit a season-high five 3-pointers at CSUN on Thursday, the most by a UH player this season. The junior has 55 3-pointers this season, tied with Megan Tinnin (2008-09) for the fourth highest single-season total in program history.

• UH leads the series with CSUB 11-5 and has won the last eight meetings, including a 67-43 win on Jan. 4 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

• UH is 3-5 in Bakersfield and won two neutral-site meetings in the quarterfinals of the 2021 and 2022 Big West Championship in Henderson, Nev.
 

• UH enters the game second in the conference and 24th nationally in scoring defense in allowing 56.5 points per game overall.
 
• UH opponents are shooting 36.6% on field-goal attempts overall, the lowest mark in the Big West and 25th in NCAA Division I.
 
• UH has held opponents to 26.5% shooting on 3-point attempts, which ranks first in the conference and 16th among 348 Division I teams.

• The Rainbow Wahine finished 13-3 overall at home this season — including 10-0 in Big West play —  and won 11 in a row in Manoa.

• UH went undefeated in conference home games for the first time since the 2014-15 season, the second time under Beeman and the eighth time since 1984.

• UH drew the largest crowd of Beeman's tenure as head coach for "Beeman's Big Bash" on Feb. 17. The 5,068 tickets issued and 4,080 turnstile count for UH's 68-84 win over UC Santa Barbara were both highs in Beeman's UH career, passing the previous marks of 4,340 and 3,491 set on senior night in 2015. The program's overall attendance record for a stand-alone game stands at 6,192 (6,004 turnstile) set on Feb. 14, 1998.

• UH's home attendance average of 2,293 (tickets issued) this season is the highest in the Big West. Cal Poly is next at 1,091.

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