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Monday, February 14, 2000
Wahine sitting pretty for now
By Al Chase
Star-BulletinThe showdown between the University of Hawaii women's basketball team and the Southern Methodist Mustangs lived up to its billing as a battle of the best in the Western Athletic Conference.
The big question for the Wahine was whether they could overcome their turnovers by playing outstanding defense.
They did, much to the delight of the 2,065 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center Saturday night.
The Wahine cut down their number of turnovers in the second half and held the Mustangs to a season low .253 shooting percentage from the field for the game. The 63-51 victory lifted the Wahine (9-1 WAC, 17-5 overall) into first place by half a game over SMU (8-1, 15-6).
Only once this season have the Mustangs been held to less than 51 points; they had averaged 73 points a game during the 12-game winning streak they brought here.
"We had to play hard in the post because that's where their main scoring comes from," said UH's Kyla Evers, who scored 15 points.
"Everyone on the outside is a penetrator, so we knew they couldn't shoot very good from outside. We had to play off them and not give them the penetration."
With Kylie Galloway, Hedy Liu and Dainora Puida jamming the middle, the Mustangs managed just eight points in the paint. In addition, Southern Methodist was just 4-for-20 in 3-point attempts.
Hawaii only hit two 3-pointers, but they were consecutive, by Raylene Howard and Evers. The quick strikes boosted UH's lead to seven points, 34-27, with 14:17 left in the second half. SMU never got closer than five points after that.
"Defense definitely kept us in the ball game for 40 minutes. Turnovers made it seem like we were trying to give the game away in the first half," said Hawaii head coach Vince Goo.
"You know what it is? It's not that we can't pass or can't catch. I think the kids are just trying so hard to be successful, but they need to settle down. They want to win so badly, every pass, every catch becomes critical."
"They beat us there and that's motivation enough for anyone," said Howard, who scored a game-high 24 points despite sitting on the bench for seven minutes in the first half with two fouls.
"We felt if we played well we could beat them on our floor. They are a tough team and played very well up there, but nobody is going to beat us easily on this floor."
The Wahine also enjoyed their third best free throw shooting game of the season, making 27-of-32 (.844 percent).
Liu, who contributed nine points and eight rebounds, sprained her left ankle with a minute to play when she landed on Christie McPeters foot after scoring on a layup.
Liu was on crutches after the game, but was confident she would be ready for the upcoming road trip.
The Wahine travel to Tulsa and Rice this week. They defeated the Golden Hurricane and Owls here earlier, but struggled in recording a pair of five-point victories.
Goo does not envision his team suffering a let down.
"Our players know that the games at Tulsa and Rice are not going to be easy," Goo said.
"We are going to have to battle because they are going to be better at their place."
WAC women
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct. Hawaii 9 1 .900 17 5 .773 SMU 8 1 .889 15 6 .714 Rice 5 3 .625 13 8 .619 Tulsa 5 4 .556 9 13 .409 Texas Christian 4 6 .400 13 12 .520 Fresno State 3 5 .375 10 12 .455 Texas-El Paso 2 7 .222 5 16 .238 San Jose State 0 9 .000 2 19 .095 Saturday's results
Hawaii 63, Southern Methodist 51
Texas Christian 66, San Jose State 51
Fresno State 57, Texas-El Paso 47Yesterday's result
Rice 78, Tulsa 50
Thursday's games
Hawaii at Tulsa, 3:05 p.m.
Fresno State at Southern Methodist
San Jose State at Rice
Texas-El Paso at Texas ChristianSaturday's games
Texas-El Paso at Southern Methodist
San Jose State at Tulsa
Fresno State at Texas ChristianSunday's game
Hawaii at Rice, 10 a.m.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
