Rainbow Wahine basketball announces season ending injuries for Lefotu and David

University of Hawaii women’s basketball head coach Laura Beeman announced on Tuesday that guard Jovi Lefotu and forward Jacque David will both miss the remainder of the season due to lower leg injuries.

“I know there’s been a lot of questions and thoughts about Jovi Lefotu and what happened on the road. Unfortunately, she has sustained an injury that will keep her from returning this season. Lower leg injury. That’s all I’ll say. Since our return, Jacque David has also sustained an injury that will keep her from returning this season, lower leg injury. So the last five days we’ve had two injuries that have kind of taken our breath away,” Beeman said during her media availability on Tuesday.

“As a team, as a coach, the last thing you want is for any of your players to get hurt, for nothing to do with the wins and losses, but just their careers and their emotions. And so this team’s going through it a little bit right now. You know, I can say my heart’s breaking. I think all of our hearts are breaking for these two kids and for the team. We will bounce back. We will show our resiliency and our grit like we always do. But right now, we kind of need to catch our breath.”

Lefotu, a freshman guard from ‘Iolani, suffered her injury in the closing seconds of last Thursday’s road loss at UC Santa Barbara. The Gatorade Hawaii Player of the Year in 2022 was averaging 4.4 points per game this season, but recently saw an increase in minutes due to a season ending-injury to Olivia Davies.

David, a sophomore forward from Missouri, was averaging six points per game with four rebounds and had a season-high 17 points in a win over Grambling earlier this season. David’s injury took place recently after the ream had returned from its most recent road trip.

“You always have injuries, ankles, knees, shoulders, all kinds of stuff. I don’t think I’ve had three of this sort. Definitely not two in five days,” Beeman said. “The basketball gods are ticked off at me right now, and I’m not sure why. Never, never like this.”

The Rainbow Wahine (8-11, 6-4 Big West), now without three rotational players for the remainder of the season, will return to the court on Thursday against UC Davis (9-11, 5-5). Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.