“First, I'd like to thank our University of Hawai'i athletics administration for supporting our constant goal of scheduling high caliber opponents and for allowing us to once again host four highly competitive tournaments.” says Takahara-Dias. “Secondly, I'd also like to thank our administration for allowing us to make our first-ever east coast roadtrip, which will be a great experience for our student-athletes, coaches and staff.”

In all, Hawai'i will battle teams from a total of 14 different conferences from across the nation. Five of Hawai'i's upcoming opponents—DePaul, Texas, UC Davis, Fresno State and Louisiana Tech—all punched their tickets to last year's NCAA tournament, while seven advanced to the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) teams (California, Virginia, Portland State, Denver, Florida Gulf Coast, Nevada and Utah State); and Idaho was invited to the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI).

Hawai'i will start the season with exhibition games against HPU (Oct. 29) and BYU-Hawai'i (Nov. 4) before officially tipping off their season against the Vulcans on Nov. 11.

The 'Bows will once again host four non-conference tournaments starting with the four-team Jack in the Box Rainbow Wahine Classic (Nov. 18-20). Portland, San Diego State and NCAA Sweet 16 team, DePaul, who finished the 2010-11 season ranked No. 10 in both the AP and USA Today final polls will all tip the season off in Honolulu.

The high-powered Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Showdown will be played during Thanksgiving weekend from Nov. 25-27 and features three teams that all played in the postseason—PAC-12 member California, Virginia from the ACC, and Texas out of the Big 12.

The Rainbow Wahine will then embark on its farthest road trip in school history to New York to take on Army (Dec. 1) and Columbia (Dec. 3). The Black Knights' home court is in West Point, N.Y. which is 4,954 miles from Honolulu and Columbia is 4,962 miles away. Previously, the farthest a UH women's basketball team has travelled was 4,035 miles to Ruston, La. to play conference rival, Louisiana Tech.

After a two week break, UH will return to the Stan Sheriff Center to host their final two tourneys—the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Shootout (Dec. 18-20) and the Pepsi Rainbow Wahine Invitational (Dec. 28-30). The Shootout, features three teams who all played in the WNIT last year. Big Sky regular season champion Portland State, Big West Champion UC Davis, and Denver out of the Sun Belt Conference will all make their way to Honolulu. The 'Bows then close out their non-conference schedule when they face Alcorn State (SWAC), North Carolina State (ACC), and the Atlantic Sun champs Florida Gulf Coast in the Invitational.

Once again, the WAC will play a double round-robin format. This season, there are only eight teams in the WAC with the departure of Boise State. For the second-straight season, the WAC Basketball Tournament will be held at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., March 7-10. Last season, Hawai'i fell in the opening round to New Mexico State, 71-59.

This season, the Rainbow Wahine also has five doubleheaders with the UH men's basketball team.

Seven letterwinners return for the Rainbow Wahine for the 2011-12 season--including four seniors and three sophomores. UH is led by senior forward Breanna Arbuckle and all-WAC freshmen team players Kamilah Jackson and Shawna-Lei Kuehu. UH welcomes six highly-touted newcomers to their squad which includes four true freshmen and a pair of sophomore transfers. Last year the Rainbow Wahine posted an 11-19 overall record and 5-11 mark in conference.

Rainbow Wahine basketball season tickets will be available starting on Oct. 10 by contacting the UH Athletics Ticket Office at (808) 944-2697 or at HawaiiAthletics.com.