WAHINE BASKETBALL
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Brittany Grice and New Mexico State's Jenean Ford battled for a rebound during last night's game.
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Aggies outlast Rainbow Wahine
A horrible night at the foul line cost the Hawaii women's basketball team dearly last night. The Rainbow Wahine made just 22 of 42 attempts from the charity stripe in falling to New Mexico State 72-69 in a double-overtime Western Athletic Conference game at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A gathering of 723 saw the Wahine (10-4 overall, 1-2 WAC) lose consecutive games for the first time this season.
The Aggies hit nine 3-pointers and 14 of their 21 free-throw attempts to improve to 4-10 and 1-2.
New Mexico State took a 70-67 lead in the second extra period on a 3-pointer by Cecilia Russell-Nava.
The Wahine, who missed their first six shots from the field in the second overtime period, still only trailed by one point (70-69) after Amy Sanders drove for a layup with 39.9 seconds to play.
The UH defense made a stop at the other end, but Tanya Smith missed both free throws with 9 seconds to play and the Wahine had to commit a foul. Russell-Nava made both of her free throws at the other end for a three-point lead and UH was unable to get a shot off before the final buzzer.
"Missing 20 free throws killed us," Hawaii coach Jim Bolla said. "Our starting posts go 7-for-27 and were 3 inches bigger than their players.
"We had breakdowns on offense. Every time there was a loose ball, they got to it before us. At times in regulation we shot and had no one to rebound, assuming the ball was going in.
"We continued to go behind the screen when their 3-point shooters had the ball and they would stop and pop. We told our players you can't go behind the screen, but they did."
The Wahine were cold from the field for the first 8 minutes, hitting on just three of 13 field-goal attempts and going 7 minutes, 15 seconds between their second and third field goals.
They missed five consecutive layups during one 3-minute stretch. The scoring drought ended when Saundra Cariaga hit an 18-foot jumper from the top of the arc with 12:05 left, cutting the New Mexico State lead to 14-10.
The Aggies made five of their first eight attempts from beyond the arc in the first 10 minutes. They were successful in penetrating, then passing the ball back out to a wide-open teammate behind the line for an uncontested shot.
The UH defense adjusted, allowing just one trey the rest of the half, and the offense began making more shots than it missed.
Trailing 29-21 with 5:24 left in the half, the Wahine outscored the Aggies 12-2 to take a 33-31 lead at the half.
A free throw, 2-point shot and a 3-point shot by Sanders drew UH to within two points, 31-29. Alofa Toiaivao followed with an 8-foot jumper from the right baseline and Smith laid the ball in with 59 seconds to go to give the Wahine the lead.
The Wahine started the second half no better than the first at either end of the court. They made just two of nine from the field and again had difficulty putting layups in the hoop. Their free-throw shooting left a lot to be desired, as they had made just nine of 18 with 7:35 remaining.
The Aggies connected on eight of their first 10 field-goal attempts to outscore UH 20-9 and take a 51-41 lead with 11:13 left in the game. All too often the New Mexico State shooters had wide-open looks and no one guarding them.
The Aggies would hold on to the lead until 1:21 showed on the clock. That's when Toiaivao grabbed a missed foul shot by Janevia Taylor and put in a layup to tie the score at 58-58. Two free throws by Sanders gave UH a 60-58 lead with 46.7 seconds to play.
Free throws by Monique Bribiescas and Jenean Ford, the last with 9.8 ticks left, forced overtime with the score 60-60 as Taylor's jumper just before the buzzer was short.
WAC standings
|
WAC |
Overall
|
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L
|
Fresno State |
3 |
0 |
1.000 |
-- |
11 |
4
|
San Jose State |
2 |
0 |
1.000 |
1/2 |
6 |
7
|
Louisiana Tech |
3 |
1 |
.750 |
1/2 |
11 |
4
|
Idaho |
3 |
1 |
.750 |
1/2 |
7 |
8
|
Boise State |
2 |
2 |
.500 |
1 1/2 |
10 |
6
|
New Mexico State |
2 |
2 |
.500 |
1 1/2 |
5 |
10
|
Hawaii |
1 |
2 |
.333 |
2 |
10 |
4
|
Nevada |
0 |
4 |
.000 |
3 1/2 |
3 |
12
|
Utah State |
0 |
4 |
.000 |
3 1/2 |
1 |
13 |
Yesterday
New Mexico State 72, Hawai'i 69
Fresno St. 67, Louisiana Tech 58
Boise St. 58, Nevada 50
Idaho 54, Utah State 51
San Jose State 64, South Dakota State 51
New Mexico St. 72, Hawaii 69
Aggies (5-10, 2-2 WAC)
|
|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Ford |
3 |
6 |
5 |
8 |
36 |
7 |
4 |
11
|
Bribiescas |
2 |
6 |
4 |
6 |
34 |
3 |
3 |
8
|
Kmitaite |
6 |
14 |
2 |
3 |
42 |
6 |
4 |
17
|
Baker |
2 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
2 |
1 |
5
|
Denning |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
19 |
4 |
1 |
0
|
Neal |
4 |
9 |
0 |
0 |
31 |
13 |
1 |
9
|
Russell-Nava |
5 |
13 |
2 |
2 |
34 |
5 |
0 |
17
|
Nance |
2 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
13 |
4 |
2 |
5
|
Walton |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Stone |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Holt |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
TEAM |
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
|
Totals |
24 |
61 |
14 |
21 |
250 |
47 |
17 |
72
|
Rainbow Wahine (10-4, 1-2 WAC)
|
|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Taylor |
2 |
8 |
1 |
4 |
42 |
6 |
3 |
5
|
Sanders |
5 |
17 |
7 |
9 |
47 |
2 |
3 |
19
|
Tambini |
0 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
16 |
5 |
1 |
1
|
Grice |
3 |
10 |
10 |
17 |
33 |
11 |
1 |
16
|
Toiaivao |
4 |
17 |
1 |
3 |
43 |
8 |
3 |
9
|
Nishi |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0+ |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Kotani |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2
|
Solia |
3 |
8 |
2 |
2 |
35 |
4 |
2 |
9
|
Cariaga |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
13 |
1 |
0 |
4
|
Chretien |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0
|
Smith |
2 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
14 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
|
TEAM |
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
Totals |
22 |
70 |
22 |
42 |
250 |
46 |
13 |
69 |
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 -- Hawaii 33, New Mexico St. 31
3-point goals -- NMSU 10-19 (Russell-Nava 5-8, Kmitaite 3-6, Neal 1-1, Baker 1-1, Stone 0-1, Bribiescas 0-2), Hawaii 3-14 (Sanders 2-7, Solia 1-2, Cariaga 0-1, Taylor 0-2, Tambini 0-2). Personal fouls -- NMSU 28, Hawaii 18.
Steals -- NMSU 9 (Ford 2, Bribiescas 2, Baker 2, Russell-Nava 2, Kmitaite), Hawaii 8 (Solia 2, Grice 2, Taylor, Sanders, Tambini, Toiaivao). Blocked shots -- NMSU 4 (Neal 2, Russell-Nava, Nance), Hawaii 8 (Grice 4, Toiaivao 2, Solia, Smith). Turnovers -- NMSU 23 (Kmitaite 6, Ford 4, Neal 3, Bribiescas 2, Baker 2, Denning 2, Russell-Nava 2, Nance, TEAM 1), Hawaii 16 (Tambini 4, Solia 4, Sanders 3, Taylor 2, Cariaga, Chretien, TEAM). Officials -- Johnson, Fujimoto, Tracey. A -- 723.