Daphne Honma is hoping a week in the frozen tundra will help sort out some questions regarding her Hawai'i-Hilo women's basketball team.

Honma and the Vulcans will travel to the 49th state Friday for four games in five days, beginning with Sunday's season opener at Alaska-Anchorage.

"We've shown a lot of potential so far, but we still have a lot of work to do," said the fourth-year head coach. "We're fairly young, so we're going to try to piece things together as we go, but I'm excited to see how this team matures throughout the season."

Of UH-Hilo's 16 players, 10 are freshmen or sophomores. Three of the top four scorers from last season are gone in Sheila Azevedo (14.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg), Amanda Adams (10.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and Jessica Hanato (10.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg). Point guard Ashley Kuali'i (6.9 ppg, 4.4 apg) also completed her eligibility.

Honma expects freshmen Carol Howard (guard), Natalie Mata (wing) and Kirsty Imai (guard) to make immediate contributions. Junior college transfer Amanda Muller (forward) has also played well in a pair of exhibitions.

"The new players have looked good in practices and I'm excited to see what they'll look like in our first game and how they fit in with our girls," Honma said.

The Vulcans will rely heavily on senior guard Hina Kimitete, a preseason All-Pacific West Conference selection.

"She's our one senior that has the most experience and it's huge for us," Honma said.

Kimitete averaged 12.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game as a junior and was an honorable mention on the All-PacWest team while starting 21 of 24 games.

UH-Hilo was picked to finish seventh in the nine-team PacWest by conference coaches last week. The Vulcans were 15-9 last year and 6-6 in the PacWest.

"Grand Canyon has always been tough and HPU and Dixie State are also talented, so it should be exciting," Honma said.

Grand Canyon, the defending PacWest champion, was picked to finish first. Dixie State, Hawai'i Pacific, BYU-Hawai'i and Notre Dame de Namur round out the top five, respectively.

Honma said she has yet to decide on a starting lineup.

"It's really not set yet. We're still trying to feel around and see what combinations will work for us," Honma said. "It'll be a trial-and-error kind of thing for these four games, but we'd like to come out of these with a definite starting five and a good rotation."

UH-Hilo plays Alaska-Anchorage again on Monday and Alaska-Fairbanks Wednesday and Thursday.