Hawai’i set to face UNLV in first round of 2025 WBIT

HONOLULU – Different dance, still moving – but to a Ninth Island Showdown. 

The University of Hawai’i women’s basketball team will stay in Nevada for the first round of the 2025 Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, taking on No. 2 seed UNLV on Thursday, March 20 with tip-off scheduled for 3:30 p.m. HT in Las Vegas. Just the second year of the WBIT, Hawai’i (22-9) clinched an automatic bid to the 32-team event by securing their second straight Big West regular season title. 

The first three rounds of the WBIT are played at the home of the higher seed before the event shifts to Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind., for the semifinal and championship rounds on March 31 and April 2. Illinois won the inaugural WBIT in 2024, defeating Villanova in the title game, 71-57. 

Much like the Rainbow Wahine, the Lady Rebels (25-7) dominated throughout conference play on the way to a regular season title in the Mountain West before falling in the conference semifinal round. Hawai’i started cold after receiving a double-bye, dropping a 51-49 heartbreaker to UC San Diego while UNLV dispatched Boise State in the quarterfinals before a doomed second quarter against San Diego State ended their reign over the Mountain West. 

The loss to SDSU snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Lady Rebels in the Mountain West Tournament, winning the previous three conference tournament titles before the semifinal setback this year. UNLV had two different win streaks of eight or more games this season, especially rolling over competition when at home as the Lady Rebels went 16-1 as hosts. 

“[UNLV head coach Lindy La Rocque] does a great job with that program,” Hawai’i head coach Laura Beeman said after finding out her squad’s first round matchup. “Since she has taken it over, [UNLV] has just been on the way up and up.” 

The Rainbow Wahine are 16-34 against UNLV all-time, losing the last two matchups against the Lady Rebels. The two programs met last in December of 2022, seeing UNLV pull out a 76-66 victory over UH. Lily Wahinekapu had 12 points for Hawai’i in the loss, a freshman year Imani Perez chipped in with five points and five rebounds off the bench and MeiLani McBee was held scoreless in 18 minutes of action in a game that UH had tied in the fourth quarter. 

“We definitely have a good game on our hands,” Beeman continued. “I think it’s going to come down to what Hawai’i team shows up and I think if we show up, we have a really good chance of moving on – which is something this program hasn’t been able to do in the postseason.” 

The WBIT bid marks the fourth consecutive season that the Rainbow Wahine secured a spot in a national postseason tournament, matching a program record, and the ninth total time under head coach Laura Beeman. Hawai’i is 6-21 across 20 overall tournament appearances, last winning a game (NCAA, WNIT, WBIT) in 2001 when the program made a run to the WNIT Semifinals with three straight victories. 

With a victory, Hawai’i would face the winner of the No. 3 Florida (16-17) – Northern Iowa (17-16) matchup in the second round on Sunday, March 23. One more victory would tie the program’s highest single-season win total under Beeman. The first three rounds of games will be broadcast on ESPN+, the semifinal round will be on ESPNU and the title game will be on ESPN2.

(Hawai’i went 23-9 during the 2014-15 season before getting knocked out in the first round of the WNIT.)