The University of Hawai’i women’s basketball team will close out the 2022-23 regular season schedule this week against CSUN on Thursday at 7 p.m. HT, followed by UC Santa Barbra on Saturday for “Senior Night” at 7 p.m. HT inside SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

GM 28 & 29 | HAWAI’I (13-14, 11-7) VS. CSUN (7-22, 6-13) | HAWAI’I (13-14, 11-7) VS. UC SANTA BARBARA (19-9, 12-6)
Date | TimeThursday, March 2nd, 2023, 7:00 p.m. HT | Saturday, March 4th, 2023. 7:00 p.m. HT
LocationHonolulu, O’ahu- SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sherrif Center
TelevisionSpectrum Sports
Live StreamThursday | Saturday 
RadioThursday | Saturday
TicketsThursday | Saturday
Live StatsThursday | Saturday
Game NotesHawai’i | CSUN | UC Santa Barbara
Social Media@HawaiiWBB Twitter | #HawaiiWBB | @hawaiiwbb Instagram | Facebook Facebook
PromotionsHawaii Pacific Health is the sponsor of Thursday’s “Play4Kay/Pink Night” game and will distribute 75 pink bags and provide health screenings prior to the game at Gate A, and award a massage certificate and tickets to the Honolulu Zoo during intermission. Fans are encouraged to wear pink apparel. The University of Hawaii Federal Credit Union (UHFCU) is the sponsor of Saturday’s “Show UHM Your Aloha” Senior Night game and will distribute color-changing cups (white cups turn to green with liquid inside) and award great prizes throughout the night. Fans are encouraged to wear their favorite aloha apparel and bring ti leaves to the senior night festivities. UHFCU will host the traditional “Senior Night” ceremony following the game.

Adult tickets are $7, Seniors (ages 65+) are $5, and youth (ages 4 – high school) are free.

NEWS & NOTES

  • The Rainbow Wahine enter the week at No. 4 in the conference standings with a .611 win percentage in Big West play. The ‘Bows could finish as high as No. 3 in the standings or as low as No. 6, depending on how the week goes.
  • UH is coming off a rollercoaster week where they came from behind on the road to beat UC Riverside 60-49 to get back to .500 on the season at 13-13, to fall for the second time this season to UC Irvine in overtime as the Anteaters hit a layup on an inbounds play with one second to go in overtime.
  • Sophomore guard Meilani McBee caught fire against the Anteaters on Saturday, scoring a career-high 23 points, 13 of those points coming in the fourth quarter and hitting five three-pointers. McBee is currently No. 9 in the Big West this year for made threes at 40.
  • UH has won four straight over CSUN, including a 16-point victory earlier this season on Jan. 16. UCSB upended UH earlier this season on Jan. 28 with a second-half comeback after the ‘Bows led by as much as 20 in the third quarter. The two teams tangled on the last game of the regular season a year ago when UH beat the Gauchos to claim the conference regular season title at home.
  • Sophomore guard Daejah Phillips is second on the team in scoring at 10.6 points per game and second in assists at 68 (2.7 per game). Her last three games have featured her coming off the bench, scoring 10 or more points while averaging five rebounds and two assists.

CLOCKING IN FOR OVERTIME HASN’T PAID OFF
UH has had three games this season where 40 minutes wasn’t enough and played into overtime. UH came up short in all three games, and two were against UC Irvine. The first extra-period game of the season came against Lipscomb in the Bank of Hawai’i Classic on Nov. 20th, 73-69, where the Bisons shot 48% from the floor. The second game was the first against UC Irvine on Jan. 19th, 71-67 in Honolulu, where 48 were called, resulting in the Anteaters capitalizing with 27 free throws while forcing 18 UH turnovers. The second game against UC Irvine occurred on Feb. 25th, where the ‘Bows put together a solid fourth-quarter comeback to push extra time. The Anteaters controlled the boards, including the offensive boards, with a 15-11 advantage, resulting in 17-second chance points compared to the ‘Bows eight.

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE… THE ROAD.
The 2022-23 season has been a weird one at times, especially regarding the ‘Bows playing at home and on the road. This marks the first losing season at home under head coach Laura Beeman and the first losing season at home since the 2011-12 campaign when they went 7-13; the only other season to come close was a .500 season at 8-8 in 2018-19. On the road though, UH has found its stride at 8-5, marking only the fourth winning season away from the island of O’ahu under Beeman’s 11-year tenure.

A DISNEY LIKE STORY
One of the two seniors who will be honored on Saturday night is graduate center, Kallin Spiller. What most don’t know about Spiller off the court is her love of Disney, resulting in her interning at Disney World this past summer, living out her dream in the world of wonders. Before coming to UH two seasons ago, Spiller played at Seattle U, where she was named WAC Freshman of the Year in 2018, and then transferred to the Ivy League, where she played and earned a degree at Columbia during the 2019-2020 season. Since coming to UH for the 2021-22 and 2022-2023 seasons, her contributions have been noticeable, playing in over 50 games and accumulating over 40 starts, including a current streak of 39 consecutive games. She has scored over 400 points and pulled down more than 300 rebounds while averaging 20 minutes per game. Spiller’s story is one of the modern era where athletes gain multiple experiences out of their careers. She has done that by bouncing from coast to coast before living it out in basketball paradise.

MACK ATTACK
The other senior who will be recognized on Saturday is Princeton graduate and sharpshooter McKenna Haire. Her first season with the ‘Bows didn’t go as planned, as she missed most of the season with an injury, but she has found new life in her second season as a shooting threat off the bench. Haire started in five games this season while playing in a collegiate career-high of 23 games. Earlier this season, she dropped a career-high of 18 points at CSUN, where she hit six threes off the bench. Off the court, the Charlotte, North Carolina native is finishing up her master’s degree and is long term relationship with former men’s basketball player and current graduate assistant Jerome Desrosiers. The two met at Princeton and transferred to UH together before the 2021-22 season.