Tuesday, December 15, 1998
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Hedy Liu grabs a rebound in front of
Ohio State's Michaela Moua.
Wahine fired up again
The UH women's basketball
By Al Chase
team rediscovers itself in the
win over the Buckeyes
Star BulletinA certain measure of normalcy returned to the Hawaii women's basketball team last night after a day that was anything but normal.
There was no shootaround, film sessions lasted half an hour instead of an hour and were squeezed in between final exams. The pregame practice was abbreviated.
Not winning the Hawaii Invitational was less important to the Wahine, who were more concerned about proving certain things to themselves.
Hawaii turned a three-point halftime lead into a 15-point bulge with 10:26 left to play compliments of a solid 17-7 spurt to open the second half.
Hawaii's 57-41 victory over Ohio State left three teams tied for first place. The Buckeyes (6-3) claimed the title based on the tiebreaker -- fewest points allowed in the three tournament games.
The Wahine (6-3) knew earlier yesterday they had to dispel any feelings that lingered from the St. Mary's loss. After all, when UH head coach Vince Goo went into the locker room after the Sunday's game and asked his team if they had any answers, there was dead silence.
"Some of the senior players just sat the team down. We knew we had to bounce back. We needed the fire, that desire to win," said Raylene Howard, the tournament's most valuable player. "We spoke about getting motivated and pumped up and things we can do to improve in that area."
In that respect, the Wahine were a step ahead of Goo, who had this message --Turn our disappointment into determination -- on the blackboard when the team met.
"After last night's loss ... It takes a lot out of you so I think it showed a lot of heart on our part to come back fighting today," said Crystal Lee, who topped the Wahine with seven rebounds.
The Buckeyes took a quick 6-1 lead, but a 3-pointer by BJ Itoman tied the score at 6. The senior point guard followed with a driving layup to put UH ahead. OSU led just one more, 22-21, with 1:19 to go in the first half.
Hawaii regained the lead on two free throws by Howard and another driving layup by Itoman with four seconds on the clock to make the score 25-22 at intermission.
"I thought BJ was the key. She's an extension of the coach on the floor. She delivers the ball so well to her shooters," said Ohio State coach Beth Burns. "We tried everything I knew to stop her and a couple of things we made up, but nothing worked.
"She wouldn't let us get points off defense and we tried to change the tempo and that didn't work."
Burns said she's had many battles with Goo (when she coached San Diego State) so the Hawaii zone defense was not a surprise. In fact, she said it was very similar to the one used by (No. 11 at the time) Rutgers, a team OSU beat.
"The bottom line comes down to you have to shoot."
The Buckeyes, ranked No. 10 in the first RPI ratings issued yesterday, did not do that well, hitting just 29 percent of their field goal attempts, including a meager 3-for-20 from beyond the arc. And, despite a decided height advantage, their inside game produced just 14 points.
"They like to get the ball to the wings and run players behind us on the roll," Goo said. "I think Raylene and Hedy (Liu) did a great job and Aina (Kohler) did a really great job in stopping their short corner and roll block areas. Also, we recognized the spots where we thought their perimeter shooters would be.
"I know Ohio State is a lot better team than they performed tonight, but I think you have to give our players a lot of credit with what they are going through now with finals and coming off a disappointing loss."
The UH zone looked to be packed a little tighter in the middle than usual. But, with the Buckeyes firing blanks from the perimeter, the Wahine didn't have to change. In contrast to the night before, the UH defenders reacted much better to cross-court passes.
"Right before the game we worked on defending their game," Lee said. "We worked on a couple of patterns (OSU runs) and it looks like Vince knew what he was talking about.
"We gave up the most 3-pointers in a long time in the first two tournament games, so Vince said defense would win it for us."
Another key factor for UH was the reduction of turnovers to four in the second half after committing 11 in the first half.
UH outrebounded OSU, 33-27, with Kayla Evers, Itoman and Howard right behind Lee with six.
St. Mary's 77, Texas Southern 50: Tracy Morris led the Gaels (7-2) for the third consecutive game by scoring 15 points. The Lady Tigers (2-9) had a game-high 17 points from Candace Williams.
Hawaii Invitational
At Stan Sheriff Center
Buckeyes (6-3 overall)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Porter 35 3 7 2 3 3 4 8 Moua 19 2 5 0 0 2 4 4 Brown 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 Lewis 24 2 6 0 0 2 1 4 Shenk 35 7 15 0 0 8 0 17 Ingham 16 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 Bogott 21 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 Barker 18 2 3 0 0 3 1 4 McCabe 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jones 22 1 12 2 2 5 3 4 Fusetti 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Team 0 Totals 200 17 49 4 5 27 18 41Wahine (6-3 overall)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp M.-Ruscoe 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kohler 14 1 3 0 0 4 1 2 Itoman 40 5 12 1 2 6 0 13 Lee 35 3 6 2 4 7 2 9 Liu 28 1 7 2 2 4 1 4 Evers 40 5 5 2 4 6 2 13 Greeny 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Howard 39 5 11 6 9 6 2 16 Team 0 Totals 200 20 44 13 21 33 8 57Key: mp-minutes played. fgm-field goals made. fga-field goals attempted. ftm-free throws made. fta-free throws attempted. reb-rebounds. pf-personal fouls. pts-points scored.Halftime score--Hawaii 25, Ohio State 22.
3-point goals--OSU 3-20 (Shenk 3-9, Lewis 0-4, Jones 0-7), UH 4-10 (Evers 1-1, Lee 1-2, Itoman 2-6, Howard 0-1).
Assists--OSU 10 (Porter 4), UH 12 (Itoman 5). Turnovers--OSU 18 (Porter 5), UH 15 (Howard 6). Steals--OSU 8 (Porter 3), UH 8 (Evers, Lee, Itoman 2). Blocked shots--OSU 4 (Porter 2), UH 1 (Kohler).
Technicals--None.
A--721 (tickets issued 1,388). Officials: Gaxiola, Brooks, Yamasaki.
n St. Mary's 77, Texas Southern 50
Texas Southern: Randle 1-12 2-2 5, Pena 2-7 0-0 6, Britton 3-6 2-4 8, Smith 1-2 2-2 4, Murray 1-1 0-0 2, Thomas 1-5 0-0 2, Williams 7-22 0-0 17, Arceneaux 1-1 0-2 2, Majors 1-1 2-2 4. Totals 18-57 8-12 50.
St. Mary's: Parker 1-1 1-1 3, Morris 7-10 0-2 14, Jermisha Dosty 6-8 0-0 12, Payne 2-5 0-0 5, Berg 1-4 0-0 3, Jolley 2-8 0-2 5, Abraham 5-10 0-0 10, Volmer 0-1 0-0 0, Hall 3-6 1-2 7, Pranaityte 1-3 0-0 2, Quintal 1-4 3-4 6, Prado 1-1 0-2 2, Jerkisha Dosty 2-4 4-6 8, Totals 32-65 9-19 77.
Halftime--St. Mary's 33, Texas Southern 23. 3-point goals--Texas Southern 6-21 (Williams 3-13, Pena 2-3, Randle 1-5), St. Mary's 4-12 (Quintal 1-1, Berg 1-3, Jolley 1-3, Payne 1-4, Morris 0-1), Fouled out--Thomas. Rebounds--Texas Southern 27 (Britton 4), St. Mary's 50 (Abraham 9). Assists--Texas Southern 8 (Pena 2, Thomas 2), St. Mary's 26 (Payne 7). Total fouls--Texas Southern 16, St. Mary's 15.
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