Monday, February 18, 2002
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Wahine lose grip Hawaii coach Vince Goo wanted his team to be composed in running its offense but in the end it was Goo who lost his cool as Rice squeaked out a 55-54 win yesterday.
on second place
Hawaii rallies after Goo gets a
technical, but can't close it outBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.com
Goo was given a technical foul with 58 seconds left in the game with the Rainbow Wahine trailing 51-46.
"I lost my composure and they hit one of those free throws," Goo said. "That was the difference in the ballgame. I thought there were three fouls in that one possession and they didn't call it until the fourth one. I said there were three fouls before that and I got a technical."
Rice's Kara Liggett converted one free throw to give the Owls a six-point lead. Then the crowd of 1,151 (1,860 tickets) at the Stan Sheriff Center watched an exciting minute boil down to the last possession.
After Liggett's free throw, Karena Greeny knocked in a tough 3-pointer with 42 seconds on the clock. Jade Abele fouled Daneesh McIntosh, who hit one but missed the next from the charity stripe.
Freshman Chelsea Wagner sank her second trey of the game with 27 seconds left to bring Hawaii within one at 53-52. Abele fouled Elisha Inman after the inbounds pass, and Inman missed both shots from the line. Janka Gabrielova drove to the basket and made a layup to give Hawaii a precarious 54-53 lead with 12 seconds left.
Rice called timeout with seven seconds remaining. Owls coach Cristy McKinney told Lindsey Maynard to take the ball to the hole.
Maynard did just that and had an open path to the basket as she scored with one second left in the game. Maynard was only 1-for-10 from the field, but she hit the one that counted.
"Lindsey Maynard right now, I don't think she feels like she had a terrible game because she made one shot," McKinney said. But it was such a big shot. It was great for us. It was a big defensive battle. Both teams really do a good job taking away the other team's strengths and making each team look for other ways to score than what we're used to.
"We played great defensively in the first half. We just didn't play with any confidence offensively and didn't shoot it with any confidence."
It was a continuation of the last meeting for both teams, with tough defense forcing poor execution. Hawaii shot 28 percent from the field, while holding Rice to 26.9 percent shooting before intermission.
Liggett led Rice with 11 points, but didn't hit her first basket until 10 minutes remained.
Hawaii finished at 31 percent from the field and struggled at the free-throw line as well, converting 13 of 22 attempts.
Wagner led Hawaii with 14 points. Abele came off the bench and scored 11 points. Greeny also scored 11 points.
"It was almost the exact thing that happened at Rice (a 57-43 loss)," Greeny said. "We were frustrated on offense. It was a physical game. Our transition offense wasn't flowing, nothing was clicking on our end. Our defense was good, but we had lapses and let them score."
Their last lapse came after Rice used a 9-2 run to erase a six-point Hawaii lead. Michelle Woods hit a turnaround jumper, Liggett sank a 3-pointer and La Tonya Sam followed with a 15-footer that gave Rice its first lead of the second half at 38-37.
Hawaii falls to 17-6 and 10-4 in the Western Athletic Conference. Rice improves to 17-7, 11-4. It was Hawaii's second loss to an unranked team and the first time the Owls have won in four tries in Honolulu.
The loss flip-flops the Rainbow Wahine in the conference standings. Hawaii started the game a half-game ahead of Rice but is now in third place, a half-game behind the Owls.
Hawaii hopes to rebound at Fresno State on Thursday.
Note: Christa Brossman hit her chin on the ground early in the first half and had to have stitches. Brossman did not return.
Owls (17-7, 11-4 wac) RICE 55, HAWAII 54
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Rigg 0 1 0 0 6 1 0 0 Beckler 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Maynard 1 10 2 2 28 3 2 4 Brown 2 4 0 0 14 2 2 4 Lawson 0 2 1 2 30 0 5 1 Woods 3 7 2 2 21 10 1 8 Liggett 4 10 1 2 27 3 2 11 McIntosh 1 3 5 8 28 7 0 7 Sam 3 5 0 0 10 2 0 8 James 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 Inman 3 4 0 2 15 3 0 6 Hayes 3 7 0 0 16 4 0 6 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 20 53 11 18 200 37 12 55 Wahine (17-6, 10-4 Wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Willoughby 0 1 0 0 15 3 0 0 Abele 3 4 5 7 21 4 1 11 Gabrielova 2 7 0 0 24 3 4 4 Roper 3 8 2 3 20 8 0 8 Brossman 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 Gabriel 1 2 0 0 18 0 0 3 Allen 2 9 0 3 24 9 3 4 Greeny 3 11 3 4 36 5 1 11 Wagner 4 16 3 5 40- 9 1 13 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 18 58 13 22 200 43 11 54 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 21, Rice 16
3-point goals--Hawaii5-13 (Gabrielova 0-2, Wagner 2-5, Greeny 2-4, Gabriel 1-1, Abele 0-1), Rice 4-14 (Rigg 0-1, Maynard 0-5, Liggett 2-5, Sam 2-3). Personal fouls--Hawaii 15, Rice 21. Technical fouls--Hawaii (bench). Steals--Hawaii 5 (Wagner 2, Willoughby 2,Greeny), Rice 3 (Lawson, Woods, Sam). Blocked shots--Hawaii 7 (Roper 2, Willoughby 2, Allen, Greeny, Wagner), Rice 6 (Hayes 2, Inman, Liggett, Woods, Maynard). Turnovers--Hawaii 18, Rice 16. Officials--Fujimoto, Feroah, Moreno. T--1:46. A--1,151.
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