Rainbow Wahine wipe out Sea Warriors

The exhibition women's basketball game between NCAA Division I Hawaii and Division II Hawaii Pacific went the way it was expected to.

The veteran Rainbow Wahine defeated the first-year Sea Warriors 104-42 yesterday before a crowd of 343 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawaii coach Jim Bolla and HPU coach Liz O'Brien-Gorkowski both used every available player so they can assess their team's progress with two weeks left before the regular season opens.

Bolla let his starting five of point guard Amy Kotani, wings Janevia Taylor and Pam Tambini and posts Brittany Grice and Tanya Smith play the first 8 to 10 minutes of each half before going to the bench.

"The key for us was execution. That was what we wanted to do," said Tambini. "We knew everyone would play and we wanted to set an example and run the plays the way they are supposed to be run. We wanted to show all the options and the looks."

In the first half they built a 28-8 lead with Tambini's seven points leading the way.

The Sea Warriors reached double figures (10 points) when Jordan Tangonan hit a 13-foot jumper from straight on with 9:24 left in the half.

The Wahine reserves kept the UH score double that of the Sea Warriors for most of the half. Dalia Solia, the first UH substitute, poured in 15 points in 12 minutes, hitting six of eight field-goal attempts.

For the half, the Wahine were 20-for-45 from the field, including 6-for-9 from beyond the arc.

The second half was more of the same. After Rachel Hancock hit a jumper with 17:10 left to make the score 56-30 Hawaii, the Wahine reeled off 20 unanswered points.

"We're trying to get the players to understand what we have done for three weeks (in practice). It's good to see they are understanding our style," Bolla said. "We had some plays that worked and some we missed when the play was wide open."

One tactic the Wahine want to use this season is to shoot a 3-pointer after a steal.

They hit the century mark when Megan Tinnin stole the ball with 45 seconds left, stepped back behind the arc at the urging of her teammates and the men's team waiting to take the court, and hit her fourth trey.

Then with 3 seconds remaining, Catherine Cho stole the HPU inbound pass and fired a 42-footer that went in as the buzzer sounded. It was UH's 13th 3-pointer in 26 attempts, more than the goal of 20 shots from beyond the arc.

"There were a couple times we had breakdowns, but overall it was good. The chemistry is there. We know how each other plays," said Tambini, who led UH with 16 points.

Bolla was pleased with his team's up-tempo offense that produced 93 field-goal attempts. A number of them were second, third and fourth chances, as the Wahine height advantage resulted in a 62-36 rebound edge, including 13 by Grice.

Tinnin finished with 14 points. Smith and Iwona Zagrobelna each had 11.

Hancock was high for HPU with 10 points.