WAHINE BASKETBALL
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii guard Janevia Taylor went to the hoop against Niki Holt of New Mexico State during Thursday's WAC opener.
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Wahine face tough Techsters in search of first WAC win
The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine attempt to gain a split of their first two Western Athletic Conference basketball games tonight against Louisiana Tech.
LaTech at Hawaii
When: Today, 7 p.m.
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
TV: KFVE, Ch. 5
Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
Tickets: All seats general admission. $8 adults, $6 seniors. UH students with valid ID and children ages 4-18 free.
Parking: $3.
Notes: The Lady Techsters lead the series 16-1. ... In the last meeting at Ruston, La., LTU won 91-52 on March 4, 2006.
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The Lady Techsters (6-8, 1-0 WAC) pulled away from a 28-25 halftime lead to beat San Jose State 65-52 Thursday night. The Wahine (6-7, 0-1), after taking a four-point lead with 6:35 to play, managed just one field goal the remainder of the game in a 58-51 loss to New Mexico State.
LaTech had never in its storied history begun league play with a losing record, but second-year coach Chris Long lined up a demanding nonconference schedule in hopes his team would be ready for anything it might encounter in the WAC.
In preseason polls, both the coaches and media picked the Lady Techsters to win their sixth consecutive WAC regular-season title.
Shan Moore scored 16 points against the Spartans in a game with a lot of missed shots, resulting in a total of 105 rebounds. LaTech's Ty Moore (10 points, 11 rebounds) and JoKeirra Sneed (10, 10) posted double-doubles.
The Wahine also had a ragged outing Thursday, with 18 turnovers, most them unforced, and shot just 32.7 percent from the field despite outrebounding NMSU 40-30.
"The Aggies did a good job of pushing our forward up high. This made the angles very hard and we took ourselves out of plays by not positioning right. We like our forward even with the foul line," said UH coach Jim Bolla.
Another issue Bolla harps on is defending the home-court advantage.
"We can't let people dominate us. I want my team to be a dominant team. I don't want people to come here thinking they can have fun and get a win," Bolla said.
The Wahine watched two hours of video yesterday and could see they were not executing the offense consistently. Although Bolla says the plays are fundamental, there were still times where four players ran a play but a fifth didn't.
"To be honest, I think they are feeling sorry for themselves. I'm tired of hearing 'I was fouled' or 'the ball was wet.' We need to go out and play and not look for an excuse. We need people to step up and make things better.
"Go set a screen. Come off a screen the right way. Don't stand around and watch. Know the plays. Be responsible, fix it and move forward."
Hawaii's top two scorers are Janevia Taylor (13.9 points a game) and Pam Tambini (13.5 ppg). Tanya Smith is the top rebounder with 7.9 a game.
Note: Former Wahine basketball player Maj Forsberg (1997-2000) is now a women's basketball referee. She worked Thursday's LaTech-SJSU game.