Wahine sweep New Zealand

Two games in The Land of the Long White Cloud, two victories for the Hawaii women’s basketball team.

The Rainbow Wahine completed a North Island/South Island sweep of New Zealand by defeating NZ Premiere South, 54-49, in a defensive grind of a game in Christchurch on Sunday (Saturday night in Hawaii) that saw both teams shoot below 30 percent.

Kenna Woodfolk led the way for the Wahine with nine points and 10 rebounds, helping UH follow up its 14-point win over NZ Premiere North a couple days prior.

“It’s gonna sound funny, it was an incredibly ugly game at times, but it was really fun on the court,” UH coach Laura Beeman said in a postgame video provided by UH. “The New Zealand team brought an incredible amount of positive energy, they really put pressure on us in some great spots. Made us think. Our girls really did a good job of rebounding. Not literally rebounding, but rebounding from the pressure, rebounding from the other night in some areas we needed to make adjustments.”

UH’s starters were Tia Kanoa, Savannah Reier, Myrrah Joseph, Courtney Middap and Woodfolk.

“Awesome. 2-0, you can’t really get much better than that right now,” Kanoa said. “We’re growing, that’s the biggest thing. We’ve faced some adversity, these different rules, some refs that we’re maybe a little frustrated with. But we’ve overcome the adversity that we’ve faced and I’m really impressed with how we’re jelling and we’re growing as the games have gone on.”

After another day of sightseeing, it’s off to Melbourne for the first of two Australian legs of the trip. But the Wahine don’t play Diamond Valley of SEABL until Wednesday (Tuesday in Hawaii).