Wednesday, December 22, 1999
Fairfield finds
paradise in Hawaii
The Stags exploit the
By Al Chase
Wahine's weaknesses in
Paradise Classic victory
Star-BulletinThe Hawaii Wahine put on a clinic of how not to play a basketball game yesterday as the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic opened at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Perhaps later this season or next year or the year after when the UH coaches want to question how they prepared the team for a game or the players need a reminder of what lack of focus, missing teamwork and not doing the little things means, all someone has to do is say "Fairfield."
The Stags exploited the middle on offense handling UH's zone and man-to-man defenses with ease and refused to succumb to a last-minute, Wahine comeback effort for a 63-61 victory before 302 fans.
"We were awfully sloppy and Fairfield outplayed us for 40 minutes," Hawaii head coach Vince Goo said.
"We did a poor job of getting them ready to play this basketball game. Maybe we didn't go hard enough during finals week. Maybe we didn't expect enough out of them the last nine days, didn't push them hard enough.
"If you don't do a good job of coaching prior to a game, they aren't going to be ready to play. That's exactly what happened."
The Wahine had trouble catching passes, difficulty finishing inside, often forgot to put their hands up on defense, had slow feet on defense and neglected to repeat the play called so everyone knew what was happening.
"Our offense wasn't working and our defense sucked big time. We have to play at both ends of the court," said Kylie Galloway.
Allison Thorne was just that in the side of the UH defense early, scoring Fairfield's first eight points, all on jumpers from close range. The 6-foot-3 senior finished with 14 points.
Gail Strumpf took some time to get warmed up (eight first-half points), but when she did, the Hawaii defense had no answer to counter her talents. The 6-4 junior center scored 17 second-half points including 13 of Fairfield's final 19. She also had 12 rebounds for her 31st career double double.
Fairfield outrebounded Hawaii, 43-32, the worst drubbing the Wahine have taken on the boards this season.
The Stags (8-2) haveoutrebounded their opponent in all eight victories.
The first half turned out to be an indicator of how Hawaii would play the whole game. The Wahine committed 14 turnovers, went four minutes and 10 seconds without scoring at one point, and trailed on rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots.
"It's a swift kick in the backside and I think it will be a learning experience," said Raylene Howard who led the Wahine with 19 points.
"I'm sure the girls will think about it tonight and, come tomorrow, there will be a different attitude and we'll be ready to play."
Vanderbilt 85, Princeton 30: The Commodores (7-2) went on a 20-0 run early in the second half to take a commanding 50-15 lead and cruise to the win.
Chavonne Hammond led the Commodores with 16 points. Reserve guard Ashley McElhiney had 13 points as did 6-6 freshman center Chantelle Anderson.
The Tigers (2-8) committed 31 turnovers and shot just 24 percent from the field.
Stags (8-2 overall, 1-0 tournament) Fairfield 63, Hawaii 61
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Isidora 4 10 0 0 21 1 1 8 Dewalt 0 1 0 0 9 2 0 0 Thorne 7 14 0 0 29 4 3 14 Briscoe 0 2 0 0 5 2 1 0 Light 3 7 0 0 35 5 6 6 Schiano 3 4 0 0 24 3 1 6 Ranaldo 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Hurford 0 1 0 0 4 2 0 0 Strumpf 11 21 3 5 37 12 1 25 Tapley 2 11 0 1 35 3 7 4 Team 9 Totals 30 71 3 6 200 43 20 63Wahine (7-3, 0-1)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Galloway 3 9 2 2 39 4 5 9 McMken-Ruscoe 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 Kohler 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 Lee 1 2 0 0 8 0 1 3 Liu 3 8 3 4 33 5 3 9 Evers 2 8 3 4 40 5 4 9 Howard 8 13 3 4 38 6 3 19 Puida 5 12 2 4 31 7 3 12 Team 4 Totals 22 52 13 18 200 32 197 61Halftime score-Fairfield 30, Hawaii 30.3-point goals-Fairfield 0-5, UH 4-13 (Lee 1-1, Evers 2-4, Galloway 1-6, Howard 0-1, Puida 0-1). Personal fouls-Fairfield 17, UH 11. Fouled out-None. Steals-Fairfield 11 (Thorne, Tapley 3), UH 6 (Evers 3). Blocked shots-Fairfield 2 (Isidora, Schiano), UH 4 (Evers 2). Turnovers-Fairfield 21 (Light 8), UH 22 (Evers, Puida 5). Technicals-none. Officials-Labenz, Hayashi, Lewis. A-302.
Commodores, 85, Tigers 30
PRINCETON: Moore 0-1 1-2 1, Munson 0-5 2-4 2, Langlas 2-5 2-2 6, Rigney 1-3 1-4 3, Reser 0-2 0-0 0, Cahill 1-6 2-2 5, Thirolf 1-3 0-0 2, Culp 1-2 0-0 2, Lane 1-6 0-1 2, Dyer 0-0 0-2 0, Lockwood 2-4 3-4 7. Totals 9-37 11-21 30.
VANDERBILT: deGroot 3-6 0-0 9, Hammond 8-13 0-0 16, Klimesova 5-6 0-0 10, Palmer 1-2 0-0 2, Anderson 6-8 1-1 13, McElhiney 6-7 0-0 13, Smith 2-4 0-0 5, Munch 0-1 0-0 0, Washington 1-4 1-2 3, Holmes 1-1 1-2 3, Danker 5-9 0-0 11, Storey 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 38-63 3-5 85.
Halftime-Vanderbilt 24, Princeton 12.
3-point goals-Princeton 1-14, VU 6-13. Rebounds-Princeton 21, VU 39, Assists-Princeton 8, VU 29. Turnovers-Princeton 31, VU 18. Blocked shots-Princeton 0, VU 6. Steals-Princeton 7, VU 22. Total fouls-Princeton 11, VU 01.
