Friday, January 29, 1999
Wahine hang on
They get a closer-than-expected
By Paul Arnett
victory over Fresno State
Star-BulletinSomebody at the Stan Sheriff Center needs to check the vents to see if there's something in the air.
Much like their male counterparts, the Hawaii women's basketball team went to sleep in heaven at the intermission and woke up in hell during the second half.
Fortunately for Wahine head coach Vince Goo, his team didn't stay there during last night's 70-61 victory over scrappy Fresno State.
"But it was close for a while," Goo said. The Wahine leveled their record at 3-3 in the Western Athletic Conference to claim sole possession of fourth place in the Pacific Division entering tomorrow night's home game with struggling San Jose State.
"We didn't do a very good job of coaching our ladies in the second half," Goo said of the Wahine's about-face witnessed by 991 fans. "We let Fresno State start believing in themselves and we almost paid the price."
A determined Fresno State team whittled relentlessly into Hawaii's 46-25 halftime advantage to cut the deficit to 64-60 with 53 seconds left in the game.
The Wahine didn't score their first basket until the 13:40 mark of the second half and then went another 6:13 before scoring their second. During that dreadful stretch, the Wahine were a woeful 2-for-13 from the field.
"But we never doubted we were going to lose it," a somewhat embarrassed Raylene Howard said. She finished with 16 points and nine rebounds to key the victory.
"We just came out a bit flat in the second half and couldn't get it back," she said. "The main thing is we won. Hopefully, we learned from this that no lead is safe."
Fresno State power forward Tiffany Lewis saw to that with a stellar second-half performance that resulted in 21 points and 10 rebounds. At one point, she scored seven baskets in a row, including the one that brought the Bulldogs to within four.
But leading Hawaii scorer BJ Itoman made sure Fresno State got no closer by sinking four consecutive free throws. The darting point guard finished with 17 points, including an 8-for-8 performance at the foul line. The senior also handed out four assists and committed seven turnovers.
"We just came out flat in the second half and had a hard time raising our level back to where it was in the first half," Itoman said.
Hawaii raised its overall record to 11-7. Fresno State fell to 7-12 for the season and 2-4 in league play. The Wahine have won the last seven meetings with the Bulldogs.
"But we can't afford to play like that and expect to win at their place," Goo said of the Feb. 27 rematch. "We need to win all of our games at home to improve our position in the WAC Tournament. Hopefully, we won't play a second half like this again."
Hawaii 70, Fresno State 61 Box Score
Bulldogs (7-12 overall; 2-4 WAC)
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Krueger 32 5 13 0 1 4 3 11 Lewis 32 10 15 1 4 10 4 21 Hines 14 2 2 1 2 4 3 5 Farias 34 3 7 2 2 2 4 9 Paukert 24 0 6 0 0 5 3 0 McGee 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Parker 8 2 4 2 2 2 4 6 McCombs 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 Boyd 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tubbs 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Baker 30 3 11 3 3 1 2 9 Graham 16 0 1 0 0 1 4 0 Team 0 Totals 200 25 60 9 16 30 27 61
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Lee 35 3 7 8 8 6 1 14 Howard 30 7 14 2 6 9 3 16 Liu 31 3 7 2 2 5 3 8 Itoman 37 4 9 8 8 1 2 17 Evers 30 4 7 2 2 1 2 11 Forsberg 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Ruscoe 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Vasconcellos 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Kohler 18 0 2 1 2 5 2 1 Petersen 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Greeny 9 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 Team 6 Totals 200 22 48 24 30 35 16 70Key: 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--UH 46, Fresno St. 25.
3-point goals--Fresno St. 2-9 (Farias 1-3, Krueger 1-4, Parker 0-1, Baker 0-1. UH 2-7 (Evers 1-1, Itoman 1-2, Howard 0-1, McMeeken-Ruscoe 0-1, Lee 0-2).
Assists--Fresno St. 18 (Farias 8), UH 13 (Evers 5). Turnovers--Fresno St. 18 (Lewis 5, Parker 5), UH 20 (Itoman 7). Steals--Fresno St. 10 (Farias 3), UH 5 (Howard 2). Blocked shots--Fresno St. 5 (Krueger 2), UH 2 (Lee 1, Kohler 1).
A--1,527. Officials: Myles, Caudle, Lewis.
