"It wasn't so much that they were bad calls but they were blown calls," said Goo after his team had its 10-game winning streak snapped at Moby Arena. "We cut it to five (70-65) and then had four calls in a row that were pretty unbelievable. All made by the same guy.
"Instead of us possibly cutting it to three, we're down by 13. But I told the kids after the game how well they played and how proud we were of their effort."
After being down by as many as 14 midway through the second half, Hawaii used a 7-0 run to close to 70-65 with 7:19 left. Wahine Raylene Howard was shoved on an inbounds play but the foul was called against the freshman guard, the first of three fouls against UH over the next 40 seconds.
The Rams converted on four of six free throws to take a 74-65 lead. After Wahine center Kendis Leeburg hit a jumper, CSU's Jacque Johnson and Becky Hammon buried back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 80-67. Hawaii never got closer than nine the rest of the way.
CSU (13-2, 4-0), shooting 50 percent from the floor, finished with 10 3-pointers. Sophomore Becky Hammon had five treys en route to a game-high 27 points and sophomore Katie Cronin had three in finishing with 24 points.
Hawaii (11-4, 4-1) had four players in double figures, led by Howard's 18, including four 3-pointers. Nani Cockett finished with 17, BJ Itoman 15 and Leeburg 14.
The Wahine play at Wyoming (10-5, 2-2) tomorrow at noon Hawaii Time. The Cowgirls lost their second straight WAC game last night to San Diego State.
"Wyoming is a better 3-point shooting team than Colorado State," said Goo. "We'll have to do the same things we did tonight plus defend the '3' better."
Colorado State 84, Hawaii 73
Wahine (11-4, 4-1 WAC)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Ashby 36 3 7 0 0 8 3 6 Howard 29 6 8 2 3 3 2 18 Leeburg 33 6 14 2 2 6 2 14 Cockett 35 5 11 7 7 5 3 17 Itoman 32 4 14 5 6 7 2 15 Wautlet 10 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 Kotilainen 16 1 8 0 0 1 4 3 Fujimoto 7 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 Liu 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Macintyre 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Team 2 Totals 200 25 66 16 18 36 18 73
Rams (13-2, 4-0 WAC)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Cronin 40 7 16 7 8 8 3 24 Randles 25 2 5 0 0 8 3 5 Pieters 34 7 10 1 2 5 4 15 Farmer 30 1 3 0 0 1 5 2 Hammon 29 10 18 2 5 3 4 27 Johnson 16 2 4 2 3 1 0 7 Austin 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Watkins 5 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Guthard 6 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 McFayden 11 0 1 4 4 4 0 4 Team 6 Totals 200 29 58 16 22 39 19 84Key: mp-minutes played. fgm-field goals made. fga-field goals attempted. ftm-free throws made. fta-free throws attempted. reb-rebounds. pf-personal fouls. pts-points scored.
Halftime score-Colorado State 41, Hawaii 32.
3-point goals-UH 7-19 (Howard 4-5, Itoman 2-7, Kotilainen 1-5, Cockett 0-1, Macintyre 0-1), CSU 10-18 (Hammon 5-9, Cronin 3-5, Randles 1-1, Johnson 1-2, Watkins 0-1).
Assists-UH 15 (Cockett 4), CSU 18 (Farmer 8). Turnovers-UH 19 (Itoman 4), CSU 20 (Cronin 7). Steals-UH 12 (Itoman 4), CSU 8 (Randles 3). Blocked shots-UH 3 (Cockett 3), CSU 1 (McFadyen 1).
Technicals-none.
A-1,754. Officials: Yarbrough, Brooks, Jones.