StarBulletin.com

East Tennessee State topples Hawaii women


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POSTED: Monday, November 30, 2009

The home breakthrough will have to wait.

A much-improved effort by the Hawaii women's basketball team was derailed late in regulation and in overtime as East Tennessee State took second place in the Jack in the Box Rainbow Wahine Classic with a 94-83 win at the Stan Sheriff Center last night.

To make matters worse, the Wahine lost freshman Shawna Kuehu to a leg injury at the start of OT. Coach Dana Takahara-Dias said the ex-Punahou star would be evaluated by a physician late last night, but it didn't look good as Kuehu cried out in pain, stayed down for several minutes and was helped off the court before a hushed crowd of 465.

“;It's quite a learning experience for our team this year with so much adversity that's been happening to our team,”; Takahara-Dias said. “;We understand that we have growing pains to do; we are staying united and sticking together.”;

UH (1-4) dropped its fourth straight game after winning its season opener.

Keisha Kanekoa, UH's lone member of the all-tournament team, had 17 points and five assists, but missed a potential game-winning banker with 20.5 seconds left in regulation. That was UH's best chance, as the visitors from the Atlantic Sun Conference scored the first seven points of OT.

Tarita Gordon led ETSU (2-3) with 25 points, while Allie Patterson had a team-high 19 for UH.

It was the first time UH posted more assists than turnovers (19 to 16) since Nov. 11 last year vs. Arizona.

Seventeenth-ranked Arizona State won the three-team event on Saturday with an 80-67 win over ETSU.