HONOLULU — The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team's 20-game conference slate was revealed on Thursday with the announcement of the 2024-25 Big West schedule.
 
The Rainbow Wahine will get an early start in their defense of the Big West regular-season championship with their conference opener against Long Beach State set for Dec. 7 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center as part of "Bold Week." The conference's move to an 11-week schedule adds early-season intrigue, eliminates three-game weeks, and allows for a consistent Thursday-Saturday format throughout the Big West season.
 
After facing the Beach, UH will conclude the nonconference portion of the schedule in December and start 2025 with road games at UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 2) and Cal Poly (Jan 4).
 
Among the highlights of the home schedule will be the Jan. 25 matchup with UC Irvine, dubbed "Beeman's Bigger Bash." The 'Bows drew the largest home crowd of head coach Laura Beeman's tenure in the inaugural "Beeman's Big Bash" last season and will take aim at the program's all-time attendance record in this season's showdown with the Anteaters.
 
UH will alternate weeks at home and on the road throughout the conference season, which concludes with Senior Night on March 8 against CSUN.
 
The regular season leads into the Hercules Tires Big West Championship set for March 12-15 at Lee's Family Forum in Henderson, Nev., which will again feature an eight-team, double-bye format.
 
The 'Bows went 20-11 overall and 17-3 in Big West play last season to capture the conference's regular-season championship for the second time in three years and earned a berth in the inaugural Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament. They return their top six scorers from last season and eight seniors lead the 'Bows into the 2024-25 campaign.
 
Guard Daejah Phillips earned All-Big West First-Team honors and was named the conference's Sixth Player of the Year for the second time in her career. Guard Lily Wahinekapu made the all-conference second team along with junior forward Imani Perez, who was also selected to the All-Defensive team. Guard MeiLani McBee enters her senior year third in program history with 160 career 3-pointers and guard Kelsie Imai was the team's assists leader last season. The frontcourt rotation also returns seniors Jacque David and Brooklyn Rewers.
 
The incoming class includes guard Mia 'Uhila, a transfer from Portland State, and four freshmen from Down Under in guard Kira-May Filemu and forward Danijela Kujovic from Australia and forward Rebecca Moors and center Ritorya Tamilo from New Zealand.
 
UH's non-conference schedule will be announced at a later date.