RAINBOW WAHINE BASKETBALL
Wahine lose in WAC tourney
LAS CRUCES, N.M. » After a fantastic February, the Hawaii women's basketball team suffered another March disappointment yesterday.
For the fourth straight year, Hawaii's stay at the Western Athletic Conference tournament was cut short with an early-round loss. This time, the Rainbow Wahine were eliminated by Fresno State 72-47 in a quarterfinal game at the Pan American Center.
The Wahine suffered through their worst shooting night of the season to drop to 15-14. The loss ended a memorable run for the Wahine, who went 6-0 in February as part of an eight-game winning streak before losing their final two games.
Later in the day, another WAC team took a loss that is likely to have historic implications.
Louisiana Tech lost 63-57 to host New Mexico State, virtually assuring an end to the Lady Techsters' run of NCAA tournament appearances.
Louisiana Tech (17-13) had been to 25 straight NCAA tournaments, a distinction the Lady Techsters shared with perennial power Tennessee.
Louisiana Tech, which won three national titles in the '80s, knew it had to win the WAC tournament to continue its NCAA streak.
In yesterday's other quarterfinals, top seed Boise State beat San Jose State 81-64 and Nevada defeated Utah State 61-60.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dita Liepkalne of Hawaii grabbed a rebound in front of teammate Iwona Zagrobelna and Tierre Wilson of Fresno State. CLICK FOR LARGE
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Wahine's season ends suddenly
LAS CRUCES, N.M. » This was a phone call Pat Charity wasn't looking forward to making.
The Hawaii interim coach hadn't spoken to head coach Jim Bolla yet as she addressed the media following the Rainbow Wahine basketball team's loss in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
"I haven't had a chance to call him," said Charity, who had several conversations with Bolla each day during the team's lengthy road trip. "I'm a little afraid to call him."
Though the season came to an abrupt end with a 72-47 defeat against Fresno State yesterday at the Pan American Center, Charity figured to have little to apologize for when she did speak to her boss.
After Bolla took a medical leave of absence to remove a portion of his lung due to an infection, the Rainbow Wahine extended a two-game winning streak to eight and finished the WAC regular season at 9-7 following a 1-6 start. They picked up a historic win at Louisiana Tech along the way.
"I give the credit to the student-athletes," Charity said. "When we found out Coach Bolla wasn't going to be coaching, we thought it was going to be the next two or three games. When we found out it was going to be the rest of the season, they continued to play hard and stick together and they had a great run. ... We had some good times, it's just unfortunate the way it ended."
The end came with UH posting its worst performance of the season at the worst possible moment. The Wahine fell to 15-14 in going one-and-out in the WAC tournament for the fourth straight year. Twice they were knocked out in the preliminary round, and they exited in the quarterfinals the last two years.
Fresno State held Hawaii to its lowest point output of the season in a game that included several lowlights for the Wahine. UH suffered its most lopsided loss of the season and shot 26.5 percent from the field. Their 27-point second-half deficit was also the largest of the season.
"It was one of them days," senior guard Janevia Taylor said. "Everything was just ... off."
Despite the loss, the Wahine will be sticking around Las Cruces a while longer since the team couldn't find an available flight back to Honolulu, extending a trip that began Feb. 26 when they departed for Idaho. They split their games against Idaho and Boise State before heading south to New Mexico.
"We never want to complain about the travel, that's just not Coach Bolla's style," Charity said. "We just couldn't get the ball to fall."
Still, the Wahine did feel the effects of the time on the road.
"It takes a toll on us," senior forward Pam Tambini said. "It's been two weeks and it's hard for us to adjust and it's hard to keep up with our sleep and our studies. I'm not trying to make excuses, but we were pretty tired."
Whatever the reason, the Wahine came out flat against Fresno State and were down 20-6 less than 9 minutes into yesterday's game.
It had been a couple of weeks since the Wahine rolled to a 79-65 victory over Fresno State at the Stan Sheriff Center midway through their winning streak. Yesterday, the Bulldogs reversed their fortunes by sagging toward the paint on defense and daring the Wahine to beat them from the perimeter.
Hawaii couldn't answer and made 10 of 31 shots in the first half and went 18-for-68 for the game.
"I thought we had some great opportunities. We were going to the basket, and it just would not fall," Charity lamented. "We just never miss that many layups, but today it was just not there.
"They played some really good defense, they were in our faces," she said, crediting the Bulldogs. "Every time we tried to drive they gave us wide-open shots and we couldn't hit them. If we hit that shot, now we change their defense, now they have to come out and play us. But as long as we're not hitting that, I wouldn't come play us (on the perimeter) either."
Tambini, UH's leading scorer at 12.8 points per game, was in foul trouble for much of the game and finished with just two points. All-WAC forward Tanya Smith found herself surrounded by Fresno State defenders much of the game and finished with six points and nine rebounds.
Taylor led the Wahine with 12 points on 5-for-24 shooting.
"We had ball pressure and we rotated and we made it very difficult for Hawaii to run their sets smoothly," Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins said.
On the other end of the court, the Bulldogs had little problem getting to the rim and shot 57 percent in the first half to take a 42-23 lead into halftime. Fresno State experienced a cold stretch in the second half, scoring just four points in the first 10 minutes. But Hawaii couldn't draw closer than 13.
"We really dictated the pace and I thought that was the most important thing for us," said Fresno State guard Chantella Perera, who led four Bulldogs in double figures with a game-high 16 points.
Speedy guard Tierre Wilson often sliced through the UH defense for layups and finished with 12 points. Forward Jenny Thigpin came off the bench to score 13 points and grab 12 rebounds.
The Bulldogs advanced to face top-seeded Boise State in a semifinal game tomorrow.
After the game, the UH representatives entered the interview with the emotion evident on their faces following the disappointing end.
"All of us have tears in our eyes because we know that we can play better than what we did," Charity said.
Fresno State 72, Hawaii 47
Rainbow wahine (15-14, 9-7 WAC)
|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Smith |
2 |
9 |
2 |
2 |
25 |
9 |
0 |
6
|
Lee |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
4 |
0 |
2
|
Taylor |
5 |
24 |
1 |
2 |
34 |
6 |
1 |
12
|
Kotani |
3 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
33 |
5 |
1 |
11
|
Tambini |
1 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
25 |
4 |
0 |
2
|
Nishi |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0
|
Tinnin |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0
|
Cariaga |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
2 |
1 |
0
|
Chretien |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
1 |
0 |
0
|
Liepkalne |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
4 |
1 |
2
|
Grice |
2 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
1 |
0 |
6
|
Zagrobelna |
3 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
17 |
4 |
0 |
6
|
TEAM |
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
Totals |
18 |
68 |
7 |
10 |
200 |
45 |
4 |
47
|
Broncos (17-12, 9-7 WAC)
|
fg |
fga |
ft |
fta |
min |
reb |
a |
tp
|
Green |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
26 |
1 |
0 |
0
|
Henry |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
28 |
4 |
1 |
8
|
Wilson |
6 |
14 |
0 |
1 |
31 |
7 |
0 |
12
|
Diggs |
4 |
9 |
4 |
4 |
28 |
3 |
2 |
12
|
Perera |
6 |
11 |
3 |
3 |
32 |
3 |
1 |
16
|
Roberson |
1 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
24 |
3 |
1 |
5
|
Jones |
0 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3
|
Leaks |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Thigpin |
6 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
12 |
0 |
13
|
Hagemeister |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3
|
Walker-Roche |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
TEAM |
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
Totals |
27 |
55 |
14 |
18 |
200 |
36 |
5 |
72
|
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 -- Fresno State 42, Hawaii 23
3-point goals -- Hawaii 4-21 (Kotani 3-6, Taylor 1-6, Tinnin0-1, Cariaga 0-1, Chretien 0-1, Tambini 0-2, Liepkalne 0-2, Zagrobelna 0-2), Fresno St. 4-9 (Thigpin 1-1, Walker-Roche 1-1, Perera 1-2, Roberson 1-3, Wilson 0-2). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 17, Fresno St. 11.
Steals -- Hawaii 7 (Kotani 4, Tambini, Tinnin, Chretien), Fresno St. 10 (Henry 4, Green, Wilson, Diggs, Perera, Roberson, Thigpin). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 4 (Smith, Kotani, Tambini, Cariaga), Fresno St. 2 (Thigpin). Turnovers -- Hawaii 20 (Smith 5, Kotani 5, Taylor 4, Chretien 3, Tambini, Cariaga, Liepkalne), Fresno St. 16 (Wilson 5, Diggs 4, Henry 2, Thigpin 2, Perera, Roberson, Walker-Roche).
Officials -- Anita Ortega, Kent Johnson, Penny Davis. A--N/A.