A mid-December trip to Hawaii won’t be a vacation for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff women’s basketball team.
The Lady Lions said it will be all basketball Monday when they take on Hawaii at 11 p.m. CST (7 p.m. Hawaii time) at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ on the mainland, while Spectrum Sports broadcasts it in Hawaii.
UAPB (2-6) junior guard Kristyna Boyd said the Lady Lions aren’t going to the islands to relax or sightsee.
“It’s a business trip,” she said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAPB Coach Erica Leak said she thought about taking the team to Hawaii early and playing two games there but decided against it in favor of having more practice time in early December.
This means the Lady Lions have had two weeks to prepare since their last game, a 62-48 home loss to North Alabama. After Monday’s game, UAPB will head to El Paso, Texas, to play UTEP on Thursday in its final non-conference game before opening SWAC play on Jan. 2.
Leak said the goal is to win both games and take a winning streak into the first two conference games against Alabama State and Alabama A&M.
“Having some confidence and momentum, because we’re going to Alabama,” Leak said. “(Alabama A&M) beat somebody they shouldn’t have beat, San Diego, the other day. Very proud of Coach Dawn (Thornton) and what she’s doing there. They’re going to have to face us. We’ll have to face them, so we want to be ready for the Alabama State and Alabama A&M games.”
A win against Hawaii (5-3) would be a big confidence-booster for a UAPB team still seeking its first win against a Division I opponent.
It won’t be an easy task against a team with five Division I wins already. The Rainbow Wahine are entering the game on a two-game losing streak but are 4-2 at home.
Freshman center Ritorya Tamilo leads the Wahine with 11.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, while senior guard Lily Wahinekapu averages 11.1 points and 4.9 rebounds.
The Wahine average 61 points per game. UAPB has yet to exceed 60 points against a Division I opponent.
The Lady Lions are expecting junior guard D’Arrah Allen to return to the lineup after missing the past five games with a thumb injury. She scored 19 points at Tulsa in the closest game UAPB has had against a Division I foe.
Allen was the team’s leading scorer after the first three games but has since been passed by freshman Janiyah Tucker, who is averaging 13.2 points per game with a team-high 17 steals.