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Hawaii Beat


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POSTED: Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Kanekoa, Liepkalne earn team awards

The Hawaii women's basketball team announced three team awards for the 2008-09 season at the Rainbow Wahine banquet last night at The Willows restaurant.

Sophomore point guard Keisha Kanekoa was named the team's offensive player of the year after leading the team in scoring at 11 points per game. She also notched team-bests in assists (88) 3-point percentage (37.2) and free-throw percentage (83.1).

Junior forward Dita Liepkalne, who led the Wahine with 179 total rebounds, was the defensive player of the year.

Senior Catherine Cho won the Ah Chew Goo Award for the overall most outstanding performance after starting all but three of the team's 30 games.

Kaufman earns WAC honor

Amber Kaufman of Hawaii was named the Western Athletic Conference's women's outdoor track and field athlete of the week yesterday, after her record-breaking performance at the Steve Scott Invitational over the weekend.

Kaufman, a junior from San Jose, Calif., broke her own school record with a jump of 6-0.75 (1.85m). She finished behind Olympian Sharon Day, who also cleared the same height but made fewer misses than Kaufman. The jump stands as the No. 1 jump in the WAC and is tied for the third-best mark in the country this season.

Football ticket deadline looming

The deadline to renew season tickets for the upcoming UH football season, the program's 100th, is Monday.

The Warriors play seven home games this year, including matchups with Wisconsin, Navy, Boise State and Fresno State.

In addition, the University is accepting $50 deposits for new season tickets at hawaiiathletics.com. Ticket prices are the same as last year.

'Bows guaranteed feature game

Host Hawaii is guaranteed the feature game of the opening day of the Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament, assuming the Rainbows make it into the six-team double-elimination field.

UH will play at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 21 at Les Murakami Stadium, according to information from the WAC.

But game times for the Rainbows later in the tournament will depend strictly on where they are in the bracket.

[ PACWEST PLACE ]

Sea Warriors sign 2 players

The Hawaii Pacific men's basketball team signed a pair of players for the upcoming season.

Forward Norman Wells comes from John A. Logan College in Illinois, where he averaged 8.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.

Ray Murdock, a guard, played three seasons at San Diego before graduating and will join HPU as a graduate student for his final collegiate season.

Wind hurts Vulcan golfers at regional

UH-Hilo golfers Chris Armanini and Jesus Valdivia each shot 4-over 75s to sit in 31st place at the NCAA Division II regional in windy Lincoln, Neb.

The Vulcans are in 11th place, 20 strokes behind first-place Sonoma State, after the first day and must move into the top five today to advance to the national tournament. The top 20 individuals also get invitations.