Monday, January 18, 1999

Red-hot Utah women
scorch cold-shooting
Wahine, 82-51

Star-Bulletin staff

SALT LAKE CITY -- Tall, taller and tallest.

That's the most accurate way to describe the last three opponents encountered by the Hawaii women's basketball team.

Yesterday, the young Utah Utes played their best game of the season and easily defeated the Wahine, 82-51, in a Western Athletic Conference Pacific Division matchup at the Huntsman Center.

"We had good shots. We had real good shots, executed our offense and we just couldn't get a bucket early," UH coach Vince Goo said. "The other night (vs. Brigham Young) we turned it over. Today we didn't, but the shots were off the glass, in and out."

After Utah's Lori Red and UH's Raylene Howard traded baskets in the first minute, the Wahine experienced their worst scoring drought of the season. Until Aina Kohler scored on a layup with 9:30 left int he first half, the only UH point was a free throw by Hedy Liu.

The Wahine (9-7 overall, 1-3 WAC) made just 1-of-11 field goal attempts prior to Kohler's bucket and the Utes (11-4, 2-1) led 15-5 at that point.

"We wanted to go power game and they blocked some shots and we got banged inside on our power moves," Goo said. "We opened it up and hit some shots and relaxed. But they started hitting some 3s in the latter part of the half."

The Wahine managed to cut the Utah lead to seven twice. But eventually the Utes started finding the open person, often beyond the 3-point arc, and their aim was true.

Ahead 33-21 at the half, Utah removed all doubt as to the final outcome by outscoring UH, 26-11, in the first eight minutes of the second half.

Iolani grad and Ute point guard Tiana Fuertes hit four of her five 3-pointers and Lindsay Herbert made three after intermission. With 11:58 to play, the Utah lead was 27 points.

Utah held a 50-19 advantage in total rebounds.

"It wasn't that we weren't boxing out, it's just height," Goo said. "A lot of that height bothered us when we're shooting and we don't shoot the 3s well. We played good defense but they would shoot and get the rebound. They played awfully well."

The Wahine play next on Saturday at San Diego State.

Box Score

Utah 82, Hawaii 51

At Salt Lake City, Utah

Wahine (9-7 overall; 1-3 WAC)

		mp	fgm	fga	ftm	fta	reb	pf	tp
Lee		22	1	4	0	0	0	2	3
Howard		38	2	12	6	6	2	2	10
Liu		32	2	8	3	4	4	1	7
Itoman		36	3	9	0	0	2	2	6
Evers		31	3	6	1	3	3	1	7
Forsberg	4	0	0	0	1	1	0	0
Ruscoe		3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Vasconcellos	8	2	3	0	0	0	2	6
Kohler		16	4	7	2	2	3	2	10
Petersen	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Greeny		9	1	4	0	0	0	0	3
	Team					4		
Totals		200	18	56	12	16	19	13	51

Utes (11-4 overall; 2-1 WAC)

		mp	fgm	fga	ftm	fta	reb	pf	tp
Andersen	14	2	7	0	0	5	4	4
Red		32	7	5	2	2	4	1	16
Rose		20	3	1	0	0	8	3	6
Fuertes		29	6	6	2	2	2	0	19
Herbert		21	5	15	2	2	3	1	15
Allen		5	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
McColl		15	1	0	3	3	3	2	5
Gibbons		11	1	3	2	2	1	2	5
Sodja		13	2	0	0	1	2	1	4
Ewert		10	1	12	0	0	3	0	2
Whitman		3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Hansen		7	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
Beckman		20	3	0	0	0	8	1	6
	Team					7		
Totals		200	31	59	11	12	50	18	82

Key: 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--Utah 33, Hawaii 21.

3-point goals--UH 3-18 (Spencer-Vasconcellos 2-3, Lee 1-3, Evers 0-2, McMeeken-Ruscoe 0-2, Howard 0-3, Itoman 0-5), Utah 9-22 (Fuertes 5-7, Herbert 3-6, Gibbons 1-3, Andersen 0-1, Sodja 0-1, Red 0-4).

Assists--UH 11 (Itoman 4), Utah 23 (Red 8). Turnovers--UH 10 (Itoman 4), Utah 18 (Rose, Fuertes 3). Steals--UU 13 (Itoman 7), Utah 4 (Red 3). Blocked shots--UH 2 (Liu 2), Utah 6 (Beckman 3).

Technicals--UH coach Goo.

A--632. Officials: Barlow, Larsen, Morris.

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http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu