While Goo's Wahine were running away from UNLV, 72-46, last night in front of 400 at South Gym, the Cowgirls were in the process of upsetting host Colorado State, 66-65.
Hawaii's victory, coupled with CSU's loss, left the Wahine (16-4, 9-1) alone in second place in the Pacific Division. Hawaii trails division leader San Diego State by a half-game heading into tomorrow's contest at Air Force.
"We were hoping that Wyoming would go to CSU and bump them off," said Goo after notching his 195th career win. "That was a big plus for Wyoming and it gives us some breathing room.
"Wyoming comes to our place next week (Thursday) and that won't be an easy game. But first we have to take care of what we can control and that's Air Force on Saturday."
Hawaii, which has won five in a row, took control against the Lady Rebels early in the second half. The Wahine exploded for an 18-7 run after intermission and held UNLV to just 17 points in the final 20 minutes.
"In the locker room at halftime, we told our ladies that there was nothing wrong with what we were doing on offense," Goo said. "But we told them we need to stop UNLV's guards from penetrating and we had to put more pressure on the ball. We wanted them to shoot over us instead of going through us.
"They had more offensive rebounds than we did (28-7) but that was because of our defense. They were 7 of 37 (from the field) in the second half and that's our defense doing that, our people contesting their shots."
Cockett was as successful on offense (18 points, five assists) as she was on defense. She held UNLV's leading scorer, Toby Girard, to six points on 3-of-18 shooting. All of Girard's points came in the first nine minutes of the first half.
Three other Wahine were in double scoring figures: BJ Itoman (14), Kendis Leeburg (13) and Raylene Howard (12). Brandi Ashby had 10 rebounds to go with her eight points and three blocks.
Taneisha Gossett led the Lady Rebels (3-18, 1-9) with 11 points, nine of them before halftime. Celeste Taylor added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
It was the second straight win in Las Vegas for Hawaii after losing 14 consecutive games against UNLV.
Hawaii 72, UNLV 46
Wahine (16-4, 9-1 WAC)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Ashby 35 3 5 2 4 10 1 8 Howard 25 5 9 2 2 3 1 1 Leeburg 32 5 10 3 4 7 2 13 Cockett 38 6 15 3 4 6 1 18 Itoman 29 6 10 0 0 1 0 14 Kotilainen 11 1 2 2 2 1 0 5 Fujimoto 11 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Liu 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Macintyre 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Wautlet 12 0 2 2 2 6 4 2 Team 3 Totals 200 26 55 14 18 37 10 72
Lady Rebels (3-18, 1-9 WAC)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Gossett 28 5 11 1 3 7 2 11 Taylor 26 5 9 0 0 10 2 10 Wunderlich 21 1 4 0 0 5 2 2 Randle 23 1 9 1 2 2 1 4 Girard 33 3 18 0 0 2 2 6 Wolfe 8 1 5 1 4 6 3 3 Webster 27 0 4 0 0 2 2 0 Dye 16 1 7 2 2 8 2 4 Adams 8 1 4 0 0 2 2 3 Jones 10 1 2 1 2 4 0 3 Team 4 Totals 200 19 73 6 13 52 18 46Key: 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-Hawaii 38, UNLV 29.
3-point goals-UH (Cockett 3-5, Itoman 2-4, Kotilainen 1-2, Howard 0-3), UNLV 2-9 (Adams 1-3, Randle 1-5, Girard 0-1).
Assists-UH 20 (Cockett 5), UNLV 14 (Webster 5). Turnovers-UH 11 (Ashby 3), UNLV (Wunderlich, Girard 3). Steals-UH 7 (Howard, Itoman, Wautlet 2). Blocked shots-UH 7 (Ashby 3), UNLV 5 (Dye 2).
Technicals-none.
A-500. Officials: Sanez, Horky, Petty.