Friday, December 24, 1999

Vanderbilt finds
paradise in Hawaii

The Commodores run away from
the Wahine and go home champions
of the Paradise Basketball Classic

By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

Win the first two games of a tournament by 50-plus points with a talent-laden team and there should be plenty left in the reserve tank for tough, hard fought third game.

That was the situation the Vanderbilt Commodores found themselves last night against Hawaii in the final game of the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Head coach Jim Foster's starters had played little more than half a game in Vanderbilt's two victories. Last night they averaged almost 30 minutes and all five scored in double figures.

Having fresh legs down the stretch proved beneficial for the Commodores (9-2) who defeated the Wahine, 73-60, to take a 3-0 record and the tournament title back to Nashville, Tenn.

The point guard position is a good example of having the depth to insure fresh legs.

Vanderbilt's starter, junior Ashley Smith, played just eight minutes and scored three points in the first half after picking up two early fouls.

Freshman Ashley McElhiney replaced Smith for 12 minutes. She also scored three points, handed out three assists and committed just one turnover.

Smith returned late in the first half. She played the whole second half, popped in three 3-pointers, scored 13 more points, and made an even bigger contribution by harassing UH point guard Kyla Evers with full-court pressure.

"That was the most I've ever had to work to bring the ball up. I was definitely tired (at the end)," Evers said. "I had problems being able to call the offense. I was calling it way took late."

This gave the Wahine less time to run plays and some of the smoothness displayed in the opening period was missing. Evers did get one two-minute break in the second half but UH doesn't have the same depth as Vanderbilt at point guard.

"In the last five or six minutes of the ballgame there was fatigue," Hawaii head coach Vince Goo said. "It would have been different if we had Christen Roper (out with pneumonia). Aina (Kohler) and Hedy (Liu) were taking turns and Kylie (Galloway) and Raylene (Howard) can go (the full 40 minutes)."

Kohler, the only UH reserve with appreciable playing time, hit a jumper with 9:35 to play, cutting the Commodores lead to 51-50.

However, Vanderbilt outscored Hawaii, 23-10, the remainder of the game. Worse yet, after Galloway made two free throws with 4:47 left and Vanderbilt nursing a 65-60 lead, the Wahine were blanked the rest of the game.

After being guilty of just three turnovers in the first half that saw the Wahine take a 34-29 led with inspired play, they committed 12 in the second half. They also gave up a couple of easy transition baskets early to help fuel the Commodores comeback.

"We thought this would be a very tough game. We talked about it before we came over and we talked about it when we got here," Foster said. "I think they are a very good basketball team, very talented offensively. We knew they would give us a run for it."

Hawaii won the battle of the boards and did well grabbing rebounds for second shots on the offensive end in the opening period. The Wahine penetrated well early, but didn't always finish with the easy layup.

There were several occasions where Wahine shooters showed more than normal concern with the Commodores height and rushed shots.

Yet, this was a game that stands with the efforts the Wahine displayed in the second half against Arizona and against Texas.

"I was very proud with their effort, extremely proud of their effort and that's the people on the court and off. It was a great team effort," Goo said.

Evers finished with a team-high 15 points.

The Wahine are off until Wednesday when they begin preparation for the Western Athletic Conference opener Jan. 8 against visiting Texas-El Paso.

FAIRFIELD 66, PRINCETON 56: The Stags (9-3 overall, 2-1 tournament) claimed the runner-up trophy. Holli Tapley scored 15 points and Gail Strumpf had 12 points and 17 rebounds. Kate Thirolf led the Tigers (2-01, 0-3) with 12 points.

Vanderbilt 73, Hawaii 60

Commodores (2-9 overall, 3-0 tournament)

		fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
deGroot		0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Hammond		6	11	0	0	40	5	5	12
Klimesova	6	9	1	2	22	6	1	13
Anderson	5	8	2	2	21	7	2	12
McElhiney	1	2	0	0	12	0	3	3
Smith		6	10	1	2	28	1	1	16
Washington	0	1	0	0	13	2	1	0
Holmes		1	3	1	2	13	0	1	3
Danker		4	10	0	0	29	2	4	11
Storey		1	1	1	2	20	3	0	3
	Team						4		
	Totals	30	55	6	10	200	30	18	73

Wahine (8-4, 1-2)

		fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Galloway	3	15	5	6	40	4	3	13
Spencer-Vasclls	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0
Kohler		3	5	2	2	18	5	1	8
Liu		2	6	3	4	35	4	2	7
Evers		5	10	1	3	38	6	2	15
Howard		3	12	5	8	40	4	2	11
Puida		3	5	0	1	27	7	4	6
	Team						2		
	Totals	19	53	16	24	200	32	15	60

Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.

Halftime score-Hawaii 34, Vanderbilt 29.

3-point goals-VU 7-13 (McElhiney 1-1, Smith 3-5, Danker 3-6, Washington 0-1), UH 6-16 (Evers 4-7, Galloway 2-8, Howard 1-0 ). Personal fouls-VU 20, UH 12. Fouled out-None. Steals-VU 8 (Klimesova 3), UH 2 (Galloway 4). Blocked shots-VU 2 (Hammond 2), UH 2 (Kohler, Evers). Turnovers-VU 12 (Danker, Storey 3), UH 15 (Galloway, Howard 4). Technicals-none. Officials-Hayashi, Inouye, Lewis. A-826.

Fairfield 66, Princeton 56

FAIRFIELD: Isidora 3-5 0-0 6, Dewalt 1-1 0-0 2, Thorne 3-7 4-6 10, Briscoe 0-0 0-0 0, Me. Light 3-9 4-4 11, Schiano 4-7 0-0 8, Ranaldo 1-3 0-0 2, Hurford 0-1 0-0 0, Strumpf 4-9, 4-9 12 Tapley 4-10 3-4 15. Totals 23-52 15-23 66.

PRINCETON: Moore 2-2 0-0 4, Munson 3-7 1-2 8, Langlas 4-19 1-2 11, Rigney 4-11 0-2 8, Reser 0-2 0-0 0, Cahill 1-3 0-0 3, Thirolf 5-9 0-0 12, Lane 2-5 1-1 6, Lockwood 2-8 0-0 4. Totals 23-66 3-7 56.

Halftime-Princeton 21, Fairfield 22.

3-point goals-Fairfield 5-12 (Tapley 4-8, Me. Light 1-4), Princeton 7-29 (Thirolf 2-5, Cahill 1-3, Lane 1-4, Munson 1-5, Langlas 2-10, Rigney 0-1, Reser 0-1.).Rebounds-Fairfield 43 (Strumpf 17), Princeton 33 (Thirolf 7). Assists-Fairfield 19 (Me. Light 8), Princeton 13 (Munson 5). Turnovers-Fairfield 16 (Tapley 6), Princeton 11 (Munson 4). Blocked shots-Fairfield 2 (Isidora, schiano), Princeton 1 (Langlas). Steals-Fairfield 6 (Schiano, Me. Light 2), Princeton 5 (Langlas 2). Total fouls-Fairfield 12, Princeton 20. Fouled out-none. Technicals-none.

All-Tournament team

Kylie Galloway, Hawaii; Raylene Howard, Hawaii; Gail Strumpf, Fairfield; Zuzana Klimesova, Vanderbilt; Chavonne Hammond, Vanderbilt.

MVP-Chantelle Anderson, Vanderbilt.

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