Tuesday, February 5, 2002
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EL PASO, Texas >> Hawaii did not fall prey to the struggling Texas-El Paso Miners yesterday en route to an 89-66 Western Athletic Conference women's basketball victory before 114 fans at the Don Haskins Center. 114 watch Wahine
rip UTEPFrom staff and wire services
For the first 18 minutes, the game hardly resembled the mismatch it would become. The Miners' field-goal shooting percentage was 15 points higher than their average as they matched the Wahine basket for basket.
Pamela Massey's jumper with 1:44 remaining in the first half cut the UH lead to 36-34, but the Wahine scored the final eight points before intermission on a layup and 3-pointer by Janka Gabrielova, and a trey from Chelsea Wagner to lead by 10 at the break.
Hawaii doubled its advantage the first eight minutes of the second half and cruised home with a victory in a make-up game that was snowed out earlier this year. It gave UH sole possession of second place heading into Thursday's game with host and league-leader Louisiana Tech.
The Miners, playing with three guards and two forwards, the tallest being 6-foot-1, tried to offset their height disadvantage by packing the middle with a tight 2-3 zone to deny the ball to 6-2 Natasja Allen and 6-5 Christen Roper. It worked in one sense, as Allen and Roper were held to four points apiece in the first half, but failed as the Wahine began clicking from 3-point land.
However, when the Wahine started hitting 3-pointers and the Miners went to a man-to-man defense, the inside opened up. Allen finished 5-for-5 and Roper was 5-for-6 from the field.
Hawaii shooters made 10 of 19 shots from behind the arc in the first half and set a team record for 3-pointers made (15) and tied the mark for treys attempted (29) in a game. The Wahine (15-4, 8-2 WAC) led by as many as 28 points in the second half.
"My concern going in was whether our post people (Roper and Allen) could guard their post people who are really wing players," UH head coach Vince Goo said. "I knew it would be a difficult matchup because Allen and Roper would have to make their defensive stance outside the arc which they are not used to doing."
Early in the game, the matchups proved difficult as UTEP forward Dragama Zoric made her first five shots. At the first timeout, Goo went with a smaller lineup by inserting Kim Willoughby and Jade Abele. Not only did this work better defensively, it got the Wahine into their rotation earlier.
Goo substituted freely for the final 11 minutes, hoping to keep his starters as rested as possible. The team travels today, plays Thursday, travels Friday and plays Saturday. Karena Greeny, who had 13 points, played 28 minutes and Chelsea Wagner, starting in place of the injured April Atuaia, played 27 minutes and led UH with 17 points and six assists. She also had two steals and just one turnover.
Reserve freshman forward Abele also scored 13 points while Allen had 12, Gabrielova added 11 and Roper finished with 10.
After the close first half, Goo went with full-court pressure in the second half and gave the Wahine three guidelines. He told his players, "If your girl has the ball, make her dribble by putting pressure on her. If your girl does not have the ball, be in a help position in case there is penetration. If they dish the ball back to your girl, recover and play defense."
It worked as UH took advantage of steals and UTEP turnovers to build the big second-half lead.
Because of UTEP's defensive strategy, the Wahine did not use their power game often and, when they did, it was often uncontested.
"This was a game where we took what they gave us. Our team played real smart," Goo said.
Zoric led UTEP (3-16, 1-10) with 21 points and seven rebounds.
Hawaii 89, Texas-El Paso 66
Wahine (15-4, 8-2 wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Allen 5 5 2 2 20 3 0 12 Greeny 5 12 0 0 28 5 4 13 Roper 5 6 0 0 24 6 0 10 Gabrielova 4 8 0 0 25 2 2 11 Wagner 6 12 0 0 27 1 6 17 Willoughby 3 5 2 2 22 3 1 8 Abele 5 7 0 0 14 3 4 13 Macfarlane 0 0 0 0 7 0 1 0 Brossman 1 3 0 0 17 3 2 2 Gabriel 1 2 0 0 16 0 3 3 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 35 60 4 4 200 29 23 89 Miners (3-16, 1-10 Wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Zoric 9 12 3 4 27 7 1 21 Brown 2 6 0 1 25 2 2 5 DeAnda 4 11 0 0 25 4 2 10 Touton 1 3 2 2 22 3 3 4 Murray 4 8 2 2 34 5 2 13 Jimmerson 0 2 0 0 10 3 0 0 Massey 3 10 0 1 24 3 2 6 Guild 0 0 0 0 13 1 1 0 Cole 3 7 0 0 18 2 1 7 Quezada 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 26 59 7 10 200 31 14 66 Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
Halftime-Hawaii 44, UTEP 34.
3-point goals--Hawaii15-29 (Wagner 5-10, Abele 3-4, Greeny 3-5, Gabrielova 3-7, Gabriel 1-1, Brossman 0-2), UTEP 7-21 (Murray 3-6, DeAnda 2-3, Brown 1-4, Cole 1-4, Massey 0-2, Zoric 0-2). Personal fouls--Hawaii 12, UTEP 13. Steals--Hawaii 6 (Wagner 2, Willoughby 2, Greeny, Macfarlane), UTEP 5 (Brown 3, DeAnda, Massey). Blocked shots--Hawaii 1 (Roper), UTEP 2 (Brown, Cole). Turnovers--Hawaii 13, UTEP 15. A--114.
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