Wednesday, October 28, 1998

Wahine ticket
sales soaring

While a record 301
season tickets have been sold for
women's basketball games,
sales are down for
the UH men

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

With the economy down and several marquee players gone, season-ticket sales for Hawaii men's and women's basketball were expected to fall short of last year's record sales. The Wahine, however, hit nothing but net with a record 301 tickets bought as of yesterday's final count.

The Rainbows were about 300 short of last year's 6,034, with the number expected to reach 5,700 when late payments are received later this week.

The Rainbow Booster Club celebrated an increase of nearly 30 members at its annual Tip-Off Banquet last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Wahine Basketball Booster Club is about 20 members ahead of last year when membership reached 130 by the end of the season.

"We pick up members all during the season, but this year we're already starting out with 150," WBBC president Louie Wai said.

"We lost people, mostly because of relocation, and some because of the economy," RBC president Chuck Gaty said. "But we picked up about 47 new people for a net gain of 27. We're up to about 200 now and have had to add a second small booster on the second level."

"Our goal was 7,500," Rainbow head coach Riley Wallace said. "We knew that might be tough, given the economy and losing Alika Smith, who was a big local draw. But I think the fans will enjoy this year's team."

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