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Friday, February 11, 2000
Wahine too
much for TCU
The UH women next take on
By Al Chase
Southern Methodist with
first place at stake
Star-BulletinHawaii and Southern Methodist kept rolling along last night, setting the stage for tomorrow night's battle for first place in the Western Athletic Conference.
Only one team will walk out of the Stan Sheriff Center with its winning streak intact.
The Wahine (8-1 WAC, 16-5 overall) won their seventh consecutive game last night with a 72-56 victory over Texas Christian.
The Mustangs (8-0,15-5) held host San Jose State to 12 second-half points to win their 12th consecutive game, 71-44.
SMU handed UH its only conference loss, 68-51, on Jan. 13.
"Right now we're thinking about SMU," Wahine co-captain Raylene Howard said after the TCU win.
"But, we had to think about TCU all week. They're a very good team and all it took was a couple of shots, a couple of 3's and they were right back in there."
Hawaii jumped to an 18-4 lead in the first nine minutes. But the Horned Frogs went on a 15-4 run to close to within three points, 22-19, with 3:20 left before halftime.
A 12-3 spurt gave the Wahine a 34-22 advantage at intermission.
Neither team could generate a huge run in the second half and UH maintained a double digit lead throughout.
Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe led UH with 22 points which ties her career high set the first time the teams played. She sank 6-of-9 3-pointers to tie the school single-game record set by Elizabeth Sirchia in 1992.
"I had a good game against them before, but I haven't been able to perform like that again," the 5-foot-9 sophomore guard said.
So, yesterday, she varied her routine before the game.
"Normally I go home between the shoot around and game time," McMeeken-Ruscoe said.
"But, today I went and had a hot tub, relaxed for half an hour, then came in here and shot for a hour, casually, nothing serious, not in uniform, just had fun because that's what it's all about."
"I felt good and loose. I knew they didn't stop me last time and I said to myself, 'why would they stop me now'."
McMeeken-Ruscoe has scored 96 points this season and 44 have come against TCU (3-6, 12-12).
UH head coach Vince Goo said the key was rebounding.
"After the first round of WAC play, TCU was No. 1 in offensive rebounds and we were No. 1 in defensive rebounds," Goo said. "They go to the boards hard, but we were able to limit their second and third attacks."
UH held TCU to nine offensive rebounds while collecting 14 and pulled down 26 defensive rebounds to TCU's 24.
It was man-to-man pressure defense for each team.
The Wahine got the better of the battle with a season-high 15 steals and committed the lowest number of turnovers (14) in their last eight games.
"My favorite moment was getting a steal at the end of the game," McMeeken-Ruscoe said.
"I don't feel I'm getting enough of those. I like playing pressure defense, but I'm not going for the steal enough. Hopefully, as I get more confidence and more game time, I'll be able to do things, Maybe, I'll be like BJ (Itoman).
Howard scored 14 points and Kylie Galloway, sick earlier in the week, had 11 and led UH with seven rebounds.
Diamond Jackson paced the Horned Frogs with 21 points.
Hawaii 72, Texas Christian 56
Horned Frogs (3-6 WAC, 12-12 overall)
FG FGA FT FTA MIN REB A TP J. Sutton 4 11 0 0 39 4 6 11 Harlum 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Thomas 3 10 2 2 29 5 0 8 Spencer 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 Tedder 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 Johnson 0 2 0 0 8 2 0 0 Jackson 9 17 3 4 35 3 1 21 Payne 2 7 0 0 38 2 5 8 Walter 3 7 0 0 22 6 0 6 Clayton 1 4 0 0 22 4 2 2 Team 7 Totals 22 59 5 6 200 33 15 56
Wahine (8-1 WAC,16-5 overall)
FG FGA FT FTA MIN REB A TP Galloway 5 14 1 2 32 7 6 11 Forsberg 0 2 3 4 14 0 0 3 McMeeken-Rusc 8 12 0 0 37 5 6 22 Kohler 0 1 2 4 7 1 1 2 Roper 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 Gabriel 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Lee 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 Liu 2 6 2 4 23 6 1 6 Evers 2 9 2 2 32 6 4 7 Howard 6 10 2 3 33 6 2 14 Puida 2 4 3 4 14 4 1 7 Team 4 Totals 25 60 15 23 200 40 21 72 Halftime score-Hawaii 34, Texas Christian 34.
3-point goals-TCU 7-18 (Payne 1-2, J. Sutton 3-7, Jackson 3-8, Tedder 0-1), UH 7-17 (McMeeken-Ruscoe 6-9, Evers 1-4, Galloway 0-2, Howard 0-2 ). Personal fouls-TCU 17, UH 11. Fouled out-Thomas. Steals-TCU 6 (Payne 2), UH 15 (Forsberg, Liu, McMeeken-Ruscoe 3). Blocked shots-TCU 2 (Thomas, Clayton), UH 1 (Liu). Turnovers-TCU 20 (Payne 5), UH 14 (Howard 4). Officials-Castle, Johnson, Nakasone. A-838.
WAC women
ConferenceOverall
Conference Overall W L PCT. W L PCT. SMU 8 0 1.000 15 5 .750 Hawaii 8 1 .889 16 5 .762 Tulsa 5 3 .625 9 12 .429 Rice 4 3 .571 12 8 .600 Texas Christian 3 6 .333 12 12 .500 Fresno State 2 5 .286 9 12 .429 Texas-El Paso 2 6 .250 5 15 .250 San Jose State 0 8 .000 2 18 .105
Last night's results
Hawaii 72, Texas Christian 56Southern Methodist 71, San Jose State 44
Tomorrow's games
Southern Methodist at Hawaii, 7 p.m.Texas Christian at San Jose State
Texas-El Paso at Fresno State
Tulsa at Rice
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