RAINBOW WAHINE BASKETBALL
Basketball Wahine take streak on the road
The Hawaii women's basketball team takes its seven-game winning streak on the road this week hoping to maintain the momentum for next week's Western Athletic Conference tournament.
However, the players are not looking ahead. They are taking the winning streak in stride and just concentrating on the next opponent.
The Rainbow Wahine (14-12, 8-6 WAC) play at Idaho (5-20, 2-12) tomorrow and conclude the regular season at Boise State on Saturday.
UH is tied for fourth place with Fresno State. Depending on how the Wahine fare and the results of the other games, they could finish the season as high as tied for second or as low as sixth.
Idaho has lost five consecutive games. The Wahine beat the Vandals 71-61 at the Stan Sheriff Center on Jan. 17 behind Tanya Smith's 24 points.
Hawaii averages 63.6 points a game, Idaho 62.6. The difference is the Vandals allow 74.9 points a game while the Wahine hold opponents to 63.4.
Idaho is led by freshman Katie Madison who leads the conference in scoring with 19.1 points a game and is fourth with 8.8 rebounds a game.
Pam Tambini leads the Wahine with a 13.0 average. Also scoring in double figures are Janevia Taylor (11.1) and Smith (10.9).
What has been encouraging to acting head coach Pat Charity and something head coach Jim Bolla harped on from the start of the season, is the way the Wahine have run their offense lately. They are being patient and trying to run through as many options as possible on each play when they don't have a fast-break opportunity.
The best evidence of that is the number of assists per field goal. In their last three games, the Wahine have assisted on 54 of their 78 field goals, a .692 percentage.
"Our team doesn't care who scores. They just want to win the game and that's a great attitude to have on a team," Charity said.
"If we continue to do the things we have been doing well, then I think we will be successful. They can all see the big picture, but I keep telling them to just take one game at a time."
The Wahine will have a height advantage. They used that to outrebound the Vandals 43-30 earlier this year. However, Hawaii committed 21 turnovers and Charity says that is unacceptable.
"Idaho is not a pressing team. We have to keep sharing the ball," Charity said. "We're going to run a lot of post-up offense using every position. We should have an advantage on the boards, but, you never know, the game is at their place."
The Wahine lead the all-time series 5-0. They won in their only previous visit to Idaho's 7,000-seat Cowan Spectrum 66-60 a year ago.