CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM UH senior forward Jade Abele greeted a young fan last night after the Rainbow Wahine fell to Rice in Abele's final home game.

Rice ruins senior night
for UH

On senior night, Jade Abele and Milia Macfarlane of Hawaii got the leis and the testimonies.

But Rice got the rebounds and assists, and most importantly, the points, as the Owls won their seventh straight women's basketball game 70-49 last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Wahine fell to 6-10 in the Western Athletic Conference and 10-13 overall after losing their final three home games. UH must win its last two games, on the road next week at Nevada and Fresno State, and San Jose State must beat Fresno State, for Hawaii to avoid a play-in round game in the WAC Tournament.

Rice improved to 12-4 and 19-8 with its sixth road win in a row. Krystal Frazier led four Owls in double figures with 19 points, and Rice methodically outplayed Hawaii throughout the game.

"They're good. That's why they're No. 2 in the conference," UH coach Jim Bolla said. "And we missed seven layups and threw away a lot of fastbreak opportunities."

A senior-night crowd announced at 921 saw Abele score 19 points and Macfarlane 2 in their last home game.

"I'll miss my friendship with both of them," junior guard Amy Sanders said. "Milia is an upbeat person who's like our mom. Jade has a huge heart, too, although she tries to hide it."

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii senior guard Milia Macfarlane cried last night after her last home game with the Rainbow Wahine.

Sanders, UH's leading scorer at 12 ppg going into last night, was locked down by Rice for one point, her lowest output of the season. She missed all eight of her shots from the floor, and didn't score until a free throw with 4:26 left in the game that made it 56-46, Rice. But the Owls scored the next seven points and won going away.

"I couldn't get very good looks" said Sanders, who scored a game-high 18 points in UH's 70-68 loss at Rice on Jan. 27. "There was always someone in my face, or the shotclock running out."

Said Rice coach Cristy McKinney: "We definitely respected her, especially after she had a very good game at our place."

The Owls led 29-21 after a first half in which McKinney used 12 players. Michelle Woods scored seven of her 12 points and collected six of her game-high rebounds. Rice outrebounded Hawaii 41-27.

"We've struggled all year rebounding the ball," Bolla said. "They'd get second, third shots, and we'd foul them. It's a double-negative for us."

Rice jumped to a 9-2 lead with Woods scoring on a putback and a 3-pointer to start the scoring.

The Wahine closed to 13-11 on a 12-foot bank shot by Alofa Toiaivao, but the Owls regained control with an 8-2 run.

Rice expanded its lead to 42-27 as Hawaii went nearly 5 minutes without a basket after Janevia Taylor's 3-pointer opened the second half. Taylor scored 13 points.

The Wahine scored the next six points on two buckets by Abele and one by Brittney Aiwohi. But UH never got that close again, as the Owls fired back with the next seven points, five coming from Frazier.

Eshombi Singleton passed out eight assists for Rice, who had 14 compared to eight for Hawaii.

"Lately, we've been finding a way to make a play when we have to," McKinney said. "We've been patient and we've been getting things done, at home and on the road."

Note: UH junior guard Trisha Nishimoto did not play the last two games because of a neck injury suffered in a motor vehicle accident in Boise on Hawaii's last road trip. She has been advised not to travel as a precaution, so she will miss the rest of the season.

Rice 70, Hawaii 49

Lady Owls (19-8, 12-4 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Singleton	1	1	2	2	30	4	8	4
Neaves	6	11	4	5	26	8	1	16
Fulton	1	3	0	0	12	0	0	2
Woods	4	12	3	4	28	12	2	12
Frazier	7	13	1	2	32	7	0	19
Riverin	0	0	2	2	11	1	0	2
McCauley	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0
Stovall	0	1	0	0	13	0	0	0
Berezhinska	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0
Cunningham	1	4	0	0	22	0	3	0
Peck	4	10	5	6	13	2	0	13
Loggins	0	0	0	0	7	2	0	0
TEAM						4
Totals	24	55	17	21	200	41	14	70
Rainbow Wahine (10-13, 6-10 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Taylor	3	9	5	7	30	4	1	13
Abele	7	14	3	4	38	5	1	19
Sanders	0	8	1	2	37	6	3	1
Macfarlane	1	4	0	0	28	2	1	2
Grice	2	4	0	1	17	2	0	4
Kotani	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Cariaga	0	0	0	0	0+	0	0	0
Spooner	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0
Tambini	0	0	0	0	8	1	1	0
Aiwohi	1	1	0	1	9	0	0	2
Lee	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Toiaivao	3	9	2	4	28	5	1	8
TEAM						2
Totals	17	50	11	19	200	27	8	49

Key -- fg: field goals made; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws made; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes played; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
Halftime -- Rice 29, Hawaii 21.
3-point goals -- Rice 5-11 (Frazier 4-5, Woods 1-4, Cunningham 0-2), Hawaii 4-14 (Taylor 2-4, Abele 2-6, Macfarlane 0-2, Sanders 0-2). Personal fouls -- Rice 19, Hawaii 14. Fouled out -- Toiaivao.
Steals -- Rice 8 (Singleton 3, Cunningham, Frazier, Loggins, Stovall, Woods), Hawaii 12 (Abele 3, Toiaivao 3, Taylor 2, Aiwohi, Kotani, Spooner, Tambini). Blocked shots -- Rice 2 (Berezhinska, Neaves), Hawaii 1 (Abele). Turnovers -- Rice 18 (Singleton 3, Cunningham 2, Frazier 2, Neaves 2, Peck 2, Berezhinska, Fulton, Loggins, Riverin, Stovall, Woods, TEAM) Hawaii 16 (Abele 4, Sanders 3, Taylor 3, Toiaivao 3, Aiwohi, Macfarlane, Grice). Officials -- Fujimoto, Price, Moreno. A -- 1,518.

WAC standings

	WAC				Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
Louisiana Tech	14	2	.875	--	18	6
Rice	12	4	.750	2	19	8
SMU	10	6	.625	4	19	7
Tulsa	9	7	.563	5	17	9
San Jose State	9	7	.563	5	16	10
Fresno State	8	8	.500	6	17	9
Hawaii	6	10	.375	8	10	13
UTEP	6	11	.353	8 1/2	11	16
Boise State	4	13	.235	10 1/2	9	17
Nevada	3	13	.188	11	7	19

Yesterday
Rice 70, Hawaii 49
Fresno State 65, Nevada 47
Louisiana Tech 85, Boise State 48
San Jose State 79, Tulsa 70
SMU 67, UTEP 51