WAHINE BASKETBALL
UH finishes strong to beat Washington State
The Hawaii women's basketball team advanced to tomorrow's championship bracket of the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic for the first time in three years.
The Rainbow Wahine found their touch from the foul line and did a better job on the boards in the second half to beat Washington State 68-63 in a first-round game yesterday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawaii plays Wisconsin in a semifinal-round game at 5 p.m. today. WSU meets Idaho State at 10:30 a.m.
The Wahine held the lead for the first 15 minutes of the first half, but poor free-throw shooting (8-for-19) and a rebounding deficit helped the Cougars rally. They took the lead (25-24) for the first time at the 4:55 mark on a fast-break layup by Dani Montgomery.
Washington State expanded the lead to 41-35 at the half with Ebonee Coates connecting on two shots in the final 48 seconds.
"We only had one offensive rebound and they had 10 in the first half. They got 10 points off second chances in the first half and our free-throw shooting was horrendous," said Hawaii coach Jim Bolla.
"The Cougars run a very similar offense to ours. They were double-teaming the ballhandler coming off the screen (at the top of the key). We finally recognized that and were able to get some baskets off the pick and roll. We didn't do that against USC and Eastern Illinois (last weekend).
In a hard-played game that saw 56 fouls whistled, the Wahine front line was hit the hardest as Alofa Toiaivao, Tanya Smith and Brittany Grice spent extended time on the bench.
It took the Wahine 5 minutes, 14 seconds to get their first basket in the second half when Tanya Smith, off a pass from Callie Spooner, scored on a layup from the left side.
The Cougars had their own dry spell, going 5:18 without a bucket, as UH pulled to within two points, 46-44, on a layup by Grice. The Wahine (2-1) would create the first of six ties on Smith's jumper in the lane with 10:41 to go.
The final tie (57-57) came with 3:38 on the clock as Kate Benz made one of two free throws for WSU.
Toiaivao's layup put UH ahead by two at 2:10, then, after the Cougars missed three consecutive shots, the 6-foot-4 junior stepped out to block Crystal Blue's jumper, grabbed the ball and fed a long pass to Smith, who was fouled on the layup try.
Smith made both free throws for a 61-57 UH lead, made one of two free throws with 1:09 left and after two more WSU misses, Amy Sanders sank two from the charity stripe for a 64-58 Wahine advantage.
"We went to a 2-3 zone for the last 4 or 5 minutes," said Bolla. "We had used it before, but only briefly."
That move proved beneficial as the Cougars were just 2-for-17 in field-goal attempts during that time.
"We went to the glass in the second half. We were spectators in the first half," said Bolla.
"It's a quality win because it is a win against a Pac-10 team," said Bolla.
Wisconsin 85, Idaho State 73
Janese Banks scored 19 of her 25 points in the first half and Jolene Anderson put 17 of her 21 points in the basket in the second half to lead the Badgers (3-0).
The Bengals (0-2) fell behind early as Wisconsin used a strong inside game and rebounding to take a 20-8 lead in the first 8 minutes and upped it to 33-15 with 7:31 left in the half. ISU came back behind the shooting of Jeni Boesel and Joanna Hixon to close to within four points 37-33 on a Hixon free throw 1:14 before intermission.
Texas A&M 76, Cal State Northridge 52
The Aggies (2-0) built an 18-point (41-23) lead at the half and cruised to victory over the Matadors (0-3).
A&M had four players in double figures, led by A'Quonesia Franklin and Danielle Gant, both with 14 points. Tamea Scales pulled down 11 of the Aggies' 55 rebounds.
No. 17 DePaul 64, Eastern Michigan 49
The Blue Demons (3-0) were not able to pull away until the final 5 minutes despite holding the Eagles (2-1) to 23 percent (13-for-56) from the floor.
Allie Quigley topped all scorers with 21 points, including two 3-pointers in the last 4 minutes. DePaul plays Texas A&M in the semifinal at 2:50 p.m. following a consolation game between Northridge and Eastern Michigan at 12:40 p.m.
Hawaii 68, Washington St. 63
Cougars (2-1)
|
|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Appleton |
2 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
26 |
1 |
3 |
5
|
Jones |
4 |
12 |
8 |
9 |
32 |
5 |
3 |
16
|
Ferguson |
4 |
12 |
2 |
3 |
31 |
4 |
0 |
10
|
Benz |
3 |
13 |
2 |
4 |
34 |
15 |
0 |
9
|
Moore |
0 |
4 |
4 |
7 |
19 |
3 |
1 |
4
|
Blue |
2 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
13 |
4 |
0 |
6
|
DuRocher |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Montgomery |
2 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
14 |
4 |
1 |
7
|
Molzen |
1 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
15 |
7 |
1 |
2
|
Coates |
2 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
3 |
0 |
4
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6
|
Totals |
20 |
68 |
21 |
33 |
200 |
52 |
9 |
63 |
Rainbow Wahine (2-1)
|
|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Taylor |
6 |
16 |
1 |
1 |
36 |
4 |
3 |
13
|
Sanders |
2 |
5 |
7 |
8 |
39 |
7 |
4 |
12
|
Spooner |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
19 |
3 |
3 |
1
|
Tambini |
2 |
7 |
2 |
4 |
29 |
3 |
0 |
6
|
Grice |
5 |
5 |
4 |
8 |
16 |
4 |
0 |
14
|
Solia |
2 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
4 |
1 |
4
|
Smith |
2 |
9 |
8 |
11 |
23 |
4 |
2 |
12
|
Lee |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2
|
Toiaivao |
2 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
19 |
4 |
1 |
4
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
Totals |
21 |
53 |
25 |
39 |
200 |
34 |
15 |
68 |
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 -- Washington State 41, Hawaii 35
3-point goals -- Washington State 2-18 (Appleton 1-4, Benz 1-4, DuRocher 0-3, Jones 0-3, Ferguson 0-4), Hawaii 1-4 (Sanders 1-1, Tambini 0-1, Taylor 0-1, Toiaivao 0-1). Personal fouls -- Washington State 30, Hawaii 26. Fouled out -- Benz, Blue, Grice, Toiaivao. Technical fouls -- none.
Steals -- Washington State 6 (Appleton 2, Blue 2, Benz, Molzen), Hawaii 9 (Smith 3, Tambini 2, Taylor 2, Toiaivao 2). Blocked shots -- Washington State 1 (Molzen), Hawaii 5 (Toiaivao 3, Grice, Solia). Turnovers -- Washington State 16 (Molzen 4, Benz 3, Blue 3, Coates 2, Ferguson 2, Appleton, Moore), Hawaii 15 (Sanders 5, Grice 3, Toiaivao 3, Smith 2, Solia, Spooner). Officials -- Pantoja, Hottendorf, Barr. A -- n/a.