It’s a little pre-Christmas trip with a purpose for the WKU women’s basketball team, who are in Hawaii for the week for the Maui Classic.

Arriving on Monday, WKU has been able to enjoy a few days while preparing for two games against familiar opponents. The Lady Toppers face Oregon State on Thursday at 9 p.m. before facing Nevada at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

“We are really excited to be there, but we definitely have to take care of Oregon State first,” WKU junior guard Josie Gilvin said. “That’s our main goal going there.”

WKU (8-1) faced both teams last year – losing at Oregon State 76-52, while beating Nevada 66-60 in the Missouri State.

“We are playing two teams that we played last year, both really good teams,” WKU Greg Collins said. “Nevada is a really hard-nosed, tough team – a lot like North Dakota that we played this year. Oregon State is still good. They are not what they were last year, but they are still really, really talented and they have great size.”

Oregon State (3-8) is a little bit different team than the one that advanced to the Elite Eight last season, but still have plenty of talented pieces.

Two starters in last season’s game return. Senior guard AJ Marotte, who scored a team-high 23 against the Lady Toppers last season, is averaging 11.8 points to lead Oregon State this season. Kelsey Rees, a 6-5 senior forward, nearly had a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds against WKU last season. She is second on the Beavers in scoring (10.4 ppg) this season, while leading Oregon State (7.5 rpg) in rebounding.

Oregon State is shooting just under 40 percent as a team, but are still having success on the glass with 38.5 rebounds a game – more than five rebounds a game more than its opponents.

WKU is coming off its best rebounding and best shooting game of the season in an 88-61 win over Kentucky Wesleyan, but Collins said Oregon State will provide a bigger barometer of where the Lady Toppers stand just a few weeks before Conference USA play.

“It will be a challenge and that is what we need,” Collins said. “We need to see can we do what we did (against Kentucky Wesleyan) on the boards. Can we do what we did as far as sharing the ball and moving the ball and getting quality shots. Can we do that against a team like Oregon State?”

Nevada is 5-6 with a roster that also has several faces that played against WKU last season. Lexie Givens, Dymonique Maxie and Audrey Roden were starters last season, with Kennedy Lee playing 14 minutes. Lee (11.7 ppg) leads a balanced attack this season, one of four Nevada players to average at 10 points a game.

Like Oregon State, Nevada will provide another test in preparation for the beginning of conference play on Jan. 2 against Liberty.

That is why this trip is as much about what happens on the court as off.

“As much as it is a vacation, it is a business trip for us,” WKU senior guard Alexis Mead said. “We are going in there focused on the games we have ahead of us and then obviously we will have a little fun.”