By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Kylie Page drives past Santa Barbara's
Nicole Greathouse last night.
Wahine strike
quickly in rout
Hawaii wins the
By Al Chase
Paradise Classic tournament with
a blowout of Santa Barbara
Star-BulletinWhat better way to begin a five-day Christmas break than to nail down a tournament title in convincing fashion before an appreciative crowd of 1,373. There is no argument from the University of Hawaii Wahine (9-1), who dominated the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 91-66, to capture the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic championship at the Special Events Arena last night.
"That was a big win for us in good style over a very solid team," UH head coach Vince Goo said. "UCSB will win the Big West Conference. They will go to the NCAA tournament."
Goo told his players before the game to expect the Gauchos (6-4) to play their tough man-to-man defense, but UCSB came out in a zone.
"I think that is a compliment to us," Goo said. "I don't think they went to a man-to-man until it was 17-0 or 17-3."
That's right. The Wahine showcased the basketball version of the blitz by scoring the first 17 points and led 19-3 when the first officials time out was whistled with 14:34 left in the opening half.
Sophomore forward Raylene Howard scored 11 of her game-high 21 points in the early run and assisted on two of senior center Brandi Ashby's six points. Howard's jumper at 12:20 put the Wahine up by 20, 23-3.
"We were really ready to play," Howard said. "We came out with complete confidence. We knew we had to play strong and when we got that lead we just rolled on it."
The Wahine had no letdown in the first half and led by 16 at the break, 46-30. The surprising fact was that UH's leading scorer, Nani Cockett, had just two points (free throws) in the opening 20 minutes. However, she had three consecutive assists in the 17-0 run, setting up easy baskets by BJ Itoman, Ashby and Howard.
Cockett, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, finished with 10 points, six assists, five rebounds and a steal.
"I wasn't getting any good looks. Others were, so I didn't force it. I just wanted to play smart," the senior shooting guard said.
"We were pumped. We're always pumped against UCSB. Those who haven't played against them have heard the stories so we just went out and kept our collective heads together."
Itoman followed Howard in the scoring column with 17 points, Kylie Page was next with 16 and Ashby finished with 14.
Ashby, who said last week her offense had been a problem this year, found the answer.
"I took the day off Sunday and kept asking myself why I was having problems on offense," the 6-foot-2 senior center said. "It's not that hard. I've done it a million times. Then a friend, who doesn't even play basketball, said it looked like I was thinking too much."
So, with a little attitude change and a lot more confidence, she was 5-of-7 from the field and made all four free throws.
In fact, the Wahine starters were 23-of-24 from the charity stripe (.958), made 25 of 41 shots from the field (.585) and hit half of their 3-point attempts (5-for-10).
"We told our ladies we'll take what they give us," Goo said. "If it's man-to-man, we go to our power game. If it's zone, look for the perimeter shots and knock them down."
It made no difference what defense the Gauchos used.
A mini run by UCSB cut the Wahine margin to 12 points with 58 seconds left in the first half.
Four free throws by Itoman closed out the half and the closest the Gauchos got in the second half was 13 points in the first minute.
UH led by 32 points with 7:32 to play on two more free throws by Itoman and Goo started rotating the reserves in for quality time against a quality opponent.
<img src="bu.gif"> Michigan State 78, McNeese State 59: Jamie Wesley scored 19 points to lead the Spartans (6-4) to a second-place finish. Twanna Calligan scored 17 points for the Cowgirls (5-5).
ALL TOURNAMENT: Jamie Wesley and Kristin Rasmussen, Michigan State; Erin Buescher, UCSB; Raylene Howard, UH. MVP: Nani Cockett, UH.
A FIRST: Cockett's MVP award is her fourth in four tournaments. She is the first Wahine player with the accomplishment.
BIG SISTER, LITTLE SISTER: Howard's younger sister, Stacey, is visiting from Australia for the holidays. Asked if she sees any difference in Raylene's play, Stacey said, "She's heaps better."
PROSPECT HUNTING: UH associate coach George Wolfe scouted a 48-team tournament in Santa Barbara over the weekend and assistant coach Da Houl is in Las Vegas now looking for prospects in a 54-team tournament.
At Special Events Arena Box Score
Hawaii 91, UC Santa Barbara 68
<img src="bu.gif"> Gauchos (6-4 overall)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Rohr 26 5 12 2 4 3 3 12 Cooper 20 1 4 0 1 3 2 2 Greathouse 24 3 13 1 2 3 4 8 Clinesmith 26 3 10 0 0 2 4 8 Shadwell 27 1 3 0 0 5 1 3 Lampson 21 5 9 2 2 3 0 14 Buescher 25 4 11 2 6 6 4 10 Frial 14 1 2 1 2 0 2 3 Turner 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Gardner 6 0 0 0 2 2 2 0 Taylor 8 2 4 2 2 6 3 6 Team 4 Totals 200 25 68 10 21 37 26 66Wahine (9-1 overall)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Page 23 5 6 4 4 3 4 16 Ashby 32 5 7 4 4 6 3 14 Howard 31 9 13 2 3 6 0 21 Cockett 27 2 8 6 6 5 1 10 Itoman 26 4 7 7 7 3 1 17 Forsberg 14 2 2 0 0 2 0 5 Kotilainen 8 0 2 3 4 0 1 3 Lee 7 0 1 1 2 3 2 1 Petersen 5 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 Liu 10 0 1 1 2 1 2 1 Evers 7 1 3 0 0 1 0 2 Wautlet 10 0 1 0 0 5 0 0 Team 1 Totals 200 28 52 29 34 36 15 91Halftime score--Hawaii 46, UC Santa Barbara 30.3-point goals--UCSB 6-16 (Shadwell 1-1, Greathouse 1-2, Clinesmith 2-6, Buescher 2-6, Cooper 0-1), UH 6-12 (Page 2-2, Howard 1-1, Forsberg 1-1, Itoman 2-4, Cockett 0-2, Kotilainen 0-2).
Assists--UCSB 13 (Clinesmith 5), UH 22 (Cockett 6). Turnovers--UCSB 15 (Rohr, Clinesmith 3), UH 16 (Forsberg 4). Steals--UCSB 13 (Lampson 5), UH 7 (Page 2). Blocked shots--UCSB 3 (Rohr, Cooper, Buescher), UH 4 (Page, Ashby 2).
A--1,373. Officials: Yamasaki, Hayashi, Lewis.
<img src="bu.gif"> Michigan State 95, McNeese State 75
McNeese State (5-5): S. Davis 6-9 1-2 13, Jeffrey 3-10 1-2 7, Hill 0-1 0-0 0, Green 2-7 4-4 9, Calligan 6-17 4-4 17, Hale 2-7 0-0 6, Abbitt 0-0 0-0 0, Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Mayo 2-11 0-0 6, Strickland 0-0 0-0 0, Shipley 0-1 0-0 0, Karasch 0-0 1-2 1, Headley 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 21-63 11-15 59.
Michigan State (6-4): Wesley 9-17 1-1 19, Engen 0-0 0-0 0, Rasmussen 6-11 2-4 14, Dalgaard 3-8 4-4 10, Reese 1-8 0-0 2, N. Davis 5-8 0-0 10, Pung 1-2 0-0 2, Cummings 2-4 6-10 10, Johnson 0-3 0-1 0, Skelly 4-6 0-0 8, Winberg 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 32-68 14-22 78.
Halftime--Michigan St. 34, McNeese St. 24.
3-point goals--McN 2-13 (Green 1-2, Hale 2-4, Mayo 2-8, Calligan 1-4), MSU 0-6 (Reese 0-3, Dalgaard 0-1, N. Davis 0-1, Johnson 0-1). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--McN 29 (Green 7), MSU 52 (Cummings, Rasmussen 12). Assists--McN 12 (Green 5), MSU 17 (Wesley 4). Steals--McN 8 (Green 3), MSU 10 (Wesley, Rasmussen, Dalgaard 2). Blocked shots--McN 2 (Jeffrey, Mayo). MSU 5 (Rasmussen 3). Turnovers--McN 19 (S. Davis, Mayo 3), MSU 21 (Rasmussen 6). Total fouls--McN 17, MSU 14. Technicals--None.
1997-98 Wahine Basketball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
