By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
UH Rainbow Wahine basketball head coach Vince Goo tries to engineer a last ditch effort for a win against Alabama on Sunday at the Special Events Arena.
Iowa State
By Al Chase
holds off Hawaii
Star-BulletinThe Iowa State women's basketball team capped its first-ever trip to the 50th state with a thrilling victory in the championship game of the United Airlines Wahine Basketball Classic yesterday at the Special Events Arena. Drawing on the confidence gained by upsetting No. 17 Alabama Saturday, the Cyclones withstood a furious rally by the University of Hawaii to edge the Wahine, 64-62.
The Cyclones proved to be a well-balanced team that could manufacture points from the inside and, when that option failed to materialize, they were just as adroit from long range.
Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly had his Cyclones defend against UH's fast-paced offense with a 2-3 zone and it was effective. The Wahine looked befuddle at times, tended to take long shots in the first two quarters and finished the first half with 32 percent shooting from the floor (9-for-28).
Two baskets by Brandi Ashby and a three-point play by Raylene Howard gave UH a 21-12 lead midway through the second quarter, but Iowa State closed out the first half with a 17-3 run to lead, 29-26, at intermission.
The spark was provided by by 6-foot-1 senior forward Janel Grimm, who scored nine points.
In the third quarter, when UH clogged the middle, the Cyclones had the answer in 6-0 sophomore guard Amanda Bratz, who hit two of her five 3-pointers, and 6-1 senior forward Jayme Olson, who scored eight points, six on shots from the paint.
Iowa State led by as many as 14 points twice in the quarter. A jumper by Ashby, a 3-pointer by Nani Cockett and two Cockett free throws kept UH close, 50-44, entering the final period.
The Wahine scored the first nine points of the last quarter to take a 53-50 lead, but that's when Iowa State's 5-8 sophomore point guard and all-tournament selection Stacy Frese went to work.
Despite some tenacious defense by BJ Itoman, Frese hit two consecutive 3-pointers to put the Cyclones back in the driver's seat. Following Cockett's baseline drive and layup, Frese scored on a jumper. Buckets by Olson and Bartz sandwiched around Cockett's layup off a steal, left ISU ahead, 62-59.
Frese then drove in for layup but Itoman followed with a 3-pointer to make it 64-62 with 58.9 seconds remaining.
On ISU's next possession, Ashby stole the ball down low and the Wahine had one final chance with 12.8 seconds on the clock.
Cockett got the inbound pass, but was stopped by two defenders at the foul line. She passed out to Kylie Page, but her 3-point attempt was short.
"It's difficult to come into someone else's building and win a tournament," Fennelly said. "Hawaii is a Top 25 team and they can defend."
Fennelly felt one key was the effort of Bratz, who did not have a good a game against Alabama but came off the bench to lead the Cyclones with 17 points.
"That was a big lift," Fennelly said.
Itoman led the Wahine with 15 points.
Alabama 77, Indiana 70: In the third-place game, Dominique Canty scored 26 points and had eight rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Crimson Tide (3-2).
Quacy Barnes paced the Hoosiers (3-2) with 22 points.
Kelli Johnson led the Vandals (1-5) with 14 points.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Dominique Canty, Alabama; Quacy Barnes, Indiana; Kristina Behnfeldt, Marshall; Chari Nordgaard, Wisconsin-Green Bay; Stacy Frese and Jayme Olson, Iowa State; Kylie Page, Hawaii. MVP: Nani Cockett, Hawaii.
At Special Events Arena Box Score
Iowa State 64, Hawaii 62
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Huelman 15 1 1 0 0 4 2 2 Grimm 37 4 12 4 5 5 4 12 Olson 36 6 11 2 2 7 2 15 Frese 40 6 11 0 1 7 0 15 Taylor 29 1 5 0 0 3 4 3 Haugen 11 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 Bartz 32 6 9 0 0 5 1 17 Team 3 Totals 200 24 51 6 8 38 15 64
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Page 30 5 12 0 0 4 5 12 Ashby 40 1 8 6 7 10 0 8 Howard 37 2 8 2 3 6 0 6 Cockett 40 5 15 3 6 14 1 14 Itoman 39 6 12 0 0 4 2 15 Forsberg 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Petersen 8 2 3 0 0 3 1 4 Evers 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 Team 1 Totals 200 22 59 11 16 29 9 62Iowa State 11 18 21 14--64 Hawaii 13 13 18 18--623-point goals--ISU 10-24 (Bartz 5-7, Frese 3-8, Taylor 1-3, Olson 1-5, Haugen 0-1), UH 7-21 (Itoman 3-6, Page 2-5, Evers 1-1, Cockett 1-5, Howard 0-4.Assists--ISU 16 (Grimm, Frese 5), UH 13 (Cockett, Itoman 3). Turnovers--ISU 18 (Grimm 7), UH 7 (Howard 3). Steals--ISU 2 (Bartz 2), UH 13 (Cockett 6). Blocked shots--ISU 2 (Olson, Bartz), UH 7 (Howard 3). A--1,506. Officials: Larson, Balque, Lewis.
Alabama: Ezell 2-6 0-2 5, Goss 3-5 1-2 8, Mills 6-9 1-3 13, Canty 10-16 6-7 26, Duncan 5-11 0-0 10, Carruth 0-1 0-0 0, Crenshaw 4-5 1-1 9, Holtzclaw 0-2 0-0 0, Caudle 3-3 0-1 6. Totals 33-58 9-16 77.
Indiana: Thrush 1-16 4-4 10, Maines 5-8 1-6 11, Barnes 7-14 8-11 22, Mueller 4-8 0-0 10, Green 2-5 2-2 7, Morgan 4-4 0-0 10, Kerns 0-0 0-0 0, Yuska 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-55 15-23 70.
Alabama 20231915--77
Indiana 18221614--70
3-point goals--UA 2-10 (Goss 1-1, Ezell 1-5, Carruth 0-1, Duncan 0-3), IU 7-13 (Morgan 2-2, Green 1-2, Mueller 2-4, Thrush 2-5). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--UA 36 (Canty 8), IU 28 (Maines 9). Assists--UA (Canty 5), IU 17 (Thrush 5). Steals--UA (Canty 4), IU 7 (Thrush, Barnes, Green 2). Blocked shots--UA (Mills, Canty 2), IU 3 (Barnes 3). Turnovers--UA 18 (Canty 5), IU 19 (Thrush 5). Total fouls--UA 20, IU 17. Technicals--None.
Idaho: Newman 1-2 0-2 2, Gussett 3-10 2-4 8, Stone 2-6 0-1 4, Woolf 2-12 0-1 5, Johnson 5-15 0-0 14, McDaniel 3-7 2-3 8, Nieman 2-3 4-6 9, Purcell 0-0 0-0 0, Rico 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-55 8-17 50.
Wisconsin-Green Bay: Knutson 2-5 0-0 4, Nordgaard 10-17 9-10 29, Reiman 4-10 3-4 12, Svetz 0-1 2-2 2, Schultz 5-13 3-5 13, Krueger 0-2 0-0 0, Paulius 0-2 3-4 3, Tilque 0-0 0-0 0, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Trout 0-0 1-2 1 Hahm 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 21-51 23-29 65.
Idaho 171788--50
Wisconsin-Green Bay14131919--65
3-points goals--Idaho 6-17 (Nieman 1-1, Johnson 4-7, Woolf 1-9), WGB 0-3 (Svetz, Schultz, Paulius 0-1). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--Idaho 31 (Newman 8), WGB 43 (Reiman 12). Assists--Idaho 9 (Gussett, Woolf 3), WGB 17 (Knutson 6). Steals--Idaho 10 (Johnson 3), WGB 11 (Nordgaard 4). Blocked shots--Idaho 1 (Nieman), WGB 2 (Svetz, Krueger). Total fouls--Idaho 21, WGB 16. Technicals--Idaho bench.
Box score unavailable.
1997-98 Wahine Basketball
Schedule and Recordhttp://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
