Monday, February 16, 1998
Wahine rise to the occasion
By Al Chase
Star-BulletinSenior night, pressure, a very talented opponent and the largest crowd in University of Hawaii women's basketball history all tugged at the emotions of the Wahine Saturday night. Hawaii, a team that has built its season on remaining focused under a variety of conditions, clinched the Western Athletic Conference Pacific Division title with its 18th consecutive victory.
The 73-69 triumph came against the Southern Methodist University Lady Mustangs, who entered the Stan Sheriff Center knowing they had to win to keep their flickering title hopes burning.
The Wahine were determined not to let that happen.
Instead, they have swept the WAC table at home and secured the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division for the March 2-7 conference tournament in Las Vegas.
Three road games (two that count against Tulsa Thursday and Rice Saturday and a noncounter vs. UNLV Feb. 26) remain before the tournament.
"We're not satisfied by just knowing that we've already clinched the title," said junior point guard BJ Itoman.
"Any kind of loss would be a difficult for us. We want to continue to win, to keep the winning streak going and go into the WAC tournament with three more wins."
Itoman, at 5-foot-5, was a giant on the court Saturday. She was the game's leading rebounder with 10, played every minute, committed just three turnovers against constant SMU pressure, dealt out six assists, stole the ball four times and scored 13 points.
"BJ was outstanding. How often does a 5-5 player get 10 rebounds? She has struggled with her shooting, but tonight she came through when some of our big guns weren't particularly hot," Wahine head coach Vince Goo said.
Twice Itoman stole the ball under the UH basket for key layups, then made a perfect pass in the paint to Brandi Ashby for a layup with 44 seconds left that game UH a 72-66 lead.
"I was really psyched up about the game. I had a lot of energy," Itoman said. "I took a double shot of wheat grass. We got the pure stuff today and it really helped. I wasn't tired at all."
There were other heros for the Wahine, who ran their record to 22-1, 12-0 in conference.
Senior Nani Cockett, who said she felt emotion of her last regular-season home game as early as last Monday, scored 20 points and blocked two shots. This after getting whacked in he right eye early in the game and ending up with both little fingers taped.
Sophomore Raylene Howard, who got fed up "with the little stuff going on under the basket" and emphatically cleared three rebounds late in the game to demonstrate her displeasure, also scored 20 points.
Sophomore Kylie Page, who battled a cold all week that taxed her ability to battle SMU's fine forward line, accounted for 16 points.
Ashby, who struggled offensively until her only bucket pushed UH closer to victory, contributed admirable defense against SMU's 6-2 Claudia Brassard and 6-1 Karlin Kennedy and rebounded well.
"We all felt the emotion," Itoman said. "This was our last (regular-season) home game and we were saying bye to four seniors who are wonderful. Also, we wanted to succeed for the fans."
The crowd of 6,004 easily topped the previous high of 4,409 set a week ago Saturday against UNLV.
"We sensed the emotion in the shoot around," Howard said. "I think we used it positively this year. We knew what this game meant."
1997-98 Wahine Basketball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
