By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii’s Nani Cockett drives past Louisiana State’s Keia Howell during last night’s game.
Wahine 'got something going'
By Dave Reardon
Special to the Star-BulletinUniversity of Hawaii basketball coach Vince Goo knows that beating a ranked team doesn't mean you become one. Especially when you're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Goo's Rainbow Wahine knocked off Louisiana State, 79-63, in the championship game of their season-opening Hawaiian Regent Classic last night at the Special Events Arena.
The Lady Tigers (2-2), unranked by Associated Press, came in rated No. 25 in the CNN/USA Today poll.
The new Associated Press rankings came out today and the Wahine didn't receive a single vote.
"There's no one in Hawaii who votes on the AP poll, it's mostly East Coast media," Goo said. "But the CNN/USA Today poll is done by 60 coaches from around the country. I think they'll see the scores and know we've got something going on over here."
One of those voting coaches is LSU's Sue Gunter. Although she had high praise for the Wahine (2-0), she said they wouldn't get her vote yet.
"Not right now. But I do think they're a very good basketball team. I can't think of any part of the game they didn't do well," Gunter said.
Gunter said she was impressed by Hawaii's Nani Cockett, who played an outstanding all-around game and was named the tournament's most valuable player.
Cockett scored eight consecutive points in the second quarter, including a layup that completed a surgical breaking of LSU's zone press in which all five Wahine touched the ball. The next time down the floor, Cockett broke the pressure with a 45-foot bounce pass to Raylene Howard (who tied Cockett with a team-high 20 points) cutting to the basket.
That gave the Wahine a 35-21 lead, and the Lady Tigers called off the pressure. But they brought it back after halftime, and this time it almost worked.
It was 40-28 at intermission, but LSU forced four quick turnovers and closed to 44-40. Katrina Hibbert scored eight of her game-high 22 in the spurt.
After a Hawaii timeout, Kylie Page hit a 10-footer in the lane and a jumper from the 3-point line to give the Wahine control again
At Special Events Arena
Hawaii 79, Louisiana State 63
Lady Tigers (2-2)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tpBrown 13 0 1 0 0 1 2 0
Hibbert 40 9 18 3 3 6 2 22
Cieslak 25 1 3 1 2 9 3 3
Dorsey 33 6 23 3 6 4 2 15
Henry 29 5 10 1 2 5 4 11
Spears 3 0 1 0 0 2 1 0
Ferdinand 7 0 1 0 0 3 3 0
Crockett 15 1 6 0 0 0 2 2
Jiles 0+ 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Kohn 9 0 0 0 0 3 2 0
Howell 14 1 1 3 6 5 4 5
Newton 6 0 0 0 0 1 3 0
Porter 6 2 2 1 2 0 0 5
Team 2
Totals 200 25 67 12 21 41 19 63
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp3-point goals-LSU 1-15 (Hibbert 1-7, Crockett 0-3, Dorsey 0-5), UH 4-10 (Howard 2-3, Itoman 1-3, Page 1-4).Page 30 6 13 2 3 7 5 15
Howard 38 8 13 2 2 6 1 20
Ashby 40 0 4 7 10 11 3 7
Cockett 39 7 15 6 11 10 2 20
Itoman 34 5 15 6 6 3 3 17
Forsberg 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Kotilainen 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Evers 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
Wautlet 10 0 0 0 0 2 1 0
Team 1
Totals 200 26 61 23 32 44 16 79
Louisiana State 10 18 19 16-63
Hawaii 18 22 20 19-79
Assists-LSU 10 (Dorsey 4), UH 15 (Itoman 5). Turnovers-LSU 17 (Henry 6), UH 17 (Page, Itoman 5). Steals-LSU 10 (Dorsey 5), UH 8 (Cockett, Itoman 3). Blocked shots-LSU 5 (Cieslak 4), UH 7 (Ashby 3, Cockett 3).
Technicals-Dorsey.
A-1,585 (tickets distributed), 1,164 (turnstile).
OSU (3-2): Roberts 9-15 0-0 18, Edwards 4-9 0-2 8, Magness 4-8 3-5 11, Sara Jackson 2-3 0-0 4, Crow 1-7 7-11 9, Bower 0-1 0-0 0, Boyd 1-3 3-4 5, Harmon 0-3 3-4 3, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Shelly Jackson 1-1 0-0 2, Gregg 4-5 0-2 8. Totals 26-56 16-28 68.
SBU (0-3): Waltman 8-15 6-7 23, Mathews 2-11 0-0 4, Petrak 2-5 0-0 4, Lukenda 3-7 0-0 7, Sober 3-6 2-3 9, Brown 3-5 1-2 7, Pawling 1-5 2-2 5, Fazio 0-5 0-0 0, Scott 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 11-14 59.
Oklahoma State 15 16 16 21-68
St. Bonaventure 8 19 6 26-59
3-point goals-OSU 3-10 (Crow 3-7, Boyd 0-1, Sara Jackson 0-2), LSU 4-13 (Dorsey 3-5, Hibbert 1-3, Crockett 0-1, Brown 0-4). Fouled out-Roberts, Brown. Rebounds-OSU 43 (Magness 9), LSU 42 (Cieslak 14). Assists-OSU 8 (Sara Jackson 4), LSU 10 (Dorsey 4). Total fouls-OSU 19, LSU 24. A-NA.
