Wahine again near
championship form
A victory tonight against
By Al Chase
UC Santa Barbara would give Hawaii
its third title of the season
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara women's basketball teams are not strangers. The teams have played 30 times, with UH holding an 18-12 edge. But UCSB has won three of the last four. The Wahine (8-1) can gift wrap their third tournament title in four attempts tonight when they play the Gauchos (6-3) in the final game of the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic at 7:05 at the Special Events Arena.
Should Michigan State (5-4) win the first game against McNeese State (5-4) at 5 p.m. and UCSB top UH, three teams would have 2-1 records in the round-robin tournament. Tiebreaker rules would then determine the champion. Points allowed for all three games is the first criteria, then point differential. If that doesn't settle it, the champ is determined by a coin flip.
The Gauchos like to play tough defense and push the ball up court.
UCSB coach Mark French constantly encourages his players with key words like "pressure, hands up, hustle, deny, work hard Gauchos, let's have intensity here."
The Wahine have their own brand of pressure defense, but will try to control the tempo with a more deliberate offense, unless the quick outlet is available.
"Michigan State is similar to the Gauchos on defense," UH head coach Vince Goo said. "It will be a good test for us, to see if we can handle the ball."
The Gauchos handle and protect the ball well. They have the fewest turnovers (33) in the tournament. UH had 20 turnovers in Saturday's 75-68 victory over MSU.
French has a deeper bench than Goo, rotating as many as nine players during a game. The Gauchos' leading scorer in the tournament -- with 41 points -- is 6-foot-3 freshman Erin Buescher, who doesn't start. Listed as a guard, she is second in rebounds (18) and leads UCSB with three blocked shots and seven steals in the tournament.
The Wahine used a 1-3-1 zone to stop Michigan State from running the baseline, keeping Brandi Ashby at home in the paint and letting Kylie Page and Nani Cockett take care of the wings. There might be more of that tonight as the Gauchos like the back-door layup and have had success inside in the tournament.
Ashby says her teammates will be ready, even though all five starters played at least 34 minutes against the Spartans.
"We had a goal of being 10-0 going into conference. We can't do that, but we have a chance to be 9-1," Ashby said.
Ashby, who moved from power forward to center this season, said the change has been tough on offense, but has been a plus on defense.
"I may not be as big, but I'm usually a little quicker because my feet are quicker," she said.
She led UH with 11 boards Saturday, scored 11 points and made two big free throws with 52 seconds to play and UH's lead, which was 20 points with 15:49 left, cut to seven.
The 6-2 senior wasn't nervous.
"We (Ashby and Raylene Howard) shoot 50 free throws every day and she's my shooting partner," Ashby said. "She was just telling me to treat it as nothing special."
BJ Itoman and Howard also hit free throws in the final minute.
"Free throws have always been one of my fortes," Itoman said. "I enjoy going to the line in pressure situations."
Cockett paced the Wahine with 26 points and had nine rebounds, including a key one at each end down the stretch. Howard finished with 16 points.
NOTES: Page left Saturday's game with four minutes to play to get temporary relief from congestion brought on by a lingering cold . . . Hedy Liu said she felt no pain in her right knee during her short stints off the bench . . . Yesterday was an off day in the tournament, but the Wahine attended graduation ceremonies in the morning -- Ashby graduated with a degree in psychology -- practiced at 1 p.m., and at 4:30 attended the wedding of Kendis Leeburg, last year's starting center.
Ashby starts graduate school at UH next semester. "I just love it here," she said.
First-place votes in parentheses. AP Women's Top 25
Record Pts Pv 1. Tennessee (38) 13-0 950 1 2. Old Dominion 8-0 907 2 3. Connecticut 10-0 878 3 4. Louisiana Tech 7-2 819 4 5. North Carolina 9-1 794 5 6. Texas Tech 6-1 760 6 7. Vanderbilt 7-1 672 8 8. Wisconsin 9-1 585 9 9. Washington 8-0 574 14 10. Virginia 7-1 571 10 11. Arizona 5-1 546 7 12. Florida 6-3 425 15 13. Illinois 5-4 391 13 14. Nebraska 10-3 384 16 15. Georgia 7-2 367 11 16. SW Missouri St. 8-0 350 22 17. Stanford 2-4 347 12 18. Colorado 5-1 304 21 19. N. Carolina St. 10-1 298 20 20. W. Kentucky 9-3 237 18 21. Auburn 8-1 224 23 22. Purdue 7-3 148 -- 23. Duke 6-3 132 17 24. Fla. International 6-0 121 -- 25. Arkansas 8-2 105 24Others receiving votes: Tulane 89, Stephen F.Austin 88, Utah 64, Colorado St. 60, Alabama 48, Kansas 28, Iowa St. 14, Hawaii 11, LSU 10, Clemson 9, Notre Dame 9, UCLA 9, Marquette 8, George Washington 7, American U. 3, Howard U. 2, Michigan 1, New Mexico 1.
1997-98 Wahine Basketball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
