The University of Hawaii women's basketball team successfully began its WAC Tournament dining tour today, feasting on Texas Christian, 67-52, at the Thomas & Mack Center. The victory puts the Wahine (20-7), who finished third in the Pacific Division, into Wednesday's 12:30 p.m. second-round game against Rice (16-10), the Mountain Division runner-up.
All-WAC selections Kendis Leeburg scored 24 and BJ Itoman added 13, including 3 3-pointers that helped Hawaii break away in the second half. The win gave Wahine coach Goo his seventh 20-win season in 10 years and kept alive the hopes of a second straight conference tournament title and NCAA berth.
"Obviously the second half was critical," Goo said. "I told them we were going up against the second-highest scoring team in the league and that we were in a good position to pull away if our shots would start falling.
"We had good looks at the basket in the first half but they just weren't going down for us. In the second half Kendis started dropping her shots and I think that was the key to the ball game. And of course we can't make musubi without Rice, so we're happy to be playing Wednesday."
Said Leeburg, "I was taking the same shots that I was in the first. My touch was back in the second half. They went in and that was good."
Emma Wilson led the Lady Frogs (13-14) with 16 points. TCU was held to its lowest point total of the season.
Hawaii took its first lead of the game 30 seconds into second half on a basket by Brandi Ashby, 25-24. TCU went ahead briefly on a 3-point play by Wilson but two 3-pointers by Itoman and two baskets by Leeburg sparked a 12-5 spurt that put the Wahine in the lead for good.
Hawaii led by as many as 11, 54-43 with 6;54 to go. TCU made a final run with two baskets by Stacy Price and a 3-pointer by Wilson to close to 56-50. The Wahine answered with two baskets by WAC Freshman of the Year Raylene Howard during an 8-0 that sealed the win.
The teams went into the locker room tied at 22-22. Hawaii trailed for most of the first 20 minutes until Liisa Kotilainen's 3-pointer tied it at 16-16 with 4:35 left before intermission.
The game was tied three more times, the last when Leeburg hit a short jumper with 45 seconds to go. Hawaii had two chances to take its first lead of the game in the final seconds but failed to convert.