Wednesday, March 4, 1998
Battle back from 27-point deficit
By Cindy Luis
to within 7, but fall short
in the end, 79-65
Star-BulletinThe Thomas & Mack continued to smack the University of Hawaii basketball team as the top-seeded Wahine were eliminated by New Mexico today, 79-65, in a quarterfinal game of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
Less than 24 hours after the Rainbow men's team in all likelihood had its NCAA tournament hopes dashed, the chances for the 16th-ranked Wahine to host an NCAA sub-regional were similarly smashed. The unranked Lobos (24-6), the WAC's top defensive team, held off late-charging Hawaii (24-3) to advance to Friday's semifinal against Colorado State.
The Wahine trailed by as many as 27 points, 46-19, early in the second half before beginning an improbable comeback that fell short. With senior captain Nani Cockett scoring four points while hobbling on a sore left ankle and Kylie Page and BJ Itoman doing a load of damage, Hawaii rallied to 68-61 with 3:21 left. The Wahine could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way in losing for the second time in three games.
"Definitely, this will hurt our chances to host. I don't think we're going to," Hawaii coach Vince Goo said.
Hawaii led three times early, the last at 10-9 with 14:32 left in the first half. New Mexico went on a 12-2 run, sparked by Tamika Stukes' two 3-pointers. The Lobos closed out the half with a 26-10 burst and led 42-19 at intermission.
New Mexico outrebounded the Wahine, 21-11, in the first half, 40-24 for the game. Hawaii had just six field goals in the opening 20 minutes, hitting for a season low 26 percent.
The Wahine scored just one basket in the final nine minutes of the first half and didn't score in the second half until Itoman's 3-pointer with 17:09 remaining in the game.
"We don't want to make any excuses," Itoman said. "We had a bye into the tournament and New Mexico had a tough game on Monday. It took us a while to adjust to their big zone. We couldn't get the ball inside and our outside shots weren't falling. I guess we needed another half."
Page led Hawaii with 15 points. Itoman added 13, Cockett and Raylene Howard scored 12 points each and Brandi Ashby scored 10.
Jennifer Williams led New Mexico with 20 points. Abby Garchek, the Lobos all-time leading scorer, finished with 15 points.
The Wahine will learn their postseason fate Sunday. Hawaii had put in a bid to host two games next week at the Stan Sheriff Center, a scenario that now seems unlikely.
Box Score
New Mexico
fg fga ft fta pts Kern 6 6 1 2 13 Williams 6 11 8 12 20 Vuletic 4 9 1 2 9 Stukes 3 8 2 2 10 Garchek 6 17 3 4 17 Heckroth 0 1 3 4 3 Sanchez 3 6 1 2 7 Totals 28 58 19 28 79
fg fga ft fta pts Page 6 10 0 0 15 Ashby 2 9 6 8 10 Howard 5 10 0 0 12 Cockett 3 12 6 8 12 Itoman 5 6 0 0 13 Forsberg 0 1 0 0 0 Kotilainen 0 0 0 0 0 Liu 0 0 0 0 0 Evers 1 1 0 2 3 Wautlet 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 22 49 12 18 65Halftime-- New Mexico 42 Hawaii 193-Point goals--New Mexico 4-17 (Stukes 2-5, Garchek 2-9, Sanchez 0-1, Vuletic 0-2), Hawaii 9-18 (Itoman 3-3, Page 3-6, Howard 2-4, Evers 1-1, Forsberg 0-1, Cockett 0-3). Rebounds -- New Mexico 40 (Williams 11). Hawaii 24 (Ashby 9). Assists-- New Mexico 17 (Stukes 6) Hawaii 12 (Cockett, Itoman 4). Total fouls--New Mexico 14, Hawaii 19. A-3,502
1997-98 Wahine Basketball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
