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Tuesday, April 25, 2000
Stronger teams on
By Al Chase
Wahine schedule
Star-BulletinAssistant women's basketball coach Jon Newlee has his fingerprints all over the 2000-2001 University of Hawaii schedule.
Newlee became the schedule maker after joining the Wahine program last year. Previously, he had performed the same duty at Southern Methodist. The Lady Mustangs' 1999-2000 schedule was rated third toughest in the nation.
With Hawaii head coach Vince Goo's approval, Newlee wants to do the same with future Wahine schedules.
The thinking is the stronger the preseason schedule, the better it is for the Wahine when they start Western Athletic Conference play.
Last season, despite finishing second during the regular season with an 11-3 record, the Wahine RPI ranking slowly fell as the season progressed because of low ratings of most of their WAC opponents.
To try and prevent that from happening again, five NCAA and three Women's National Invitation tournament teams from last season will participate in Wahine preseason tournaments this year.
"Our RPI rating better go up," Newlee said.
Western Kentucky (22-10), a loser to Duke in the second round of the NCAA tournament, Pepperdine (21-10), a first-round loser to Virginia, and Northern Arizona (11-18) are in the field for the season-opening Hawaiian Regent Classic, scheduled for Nov. 17-19.
The Wahine Classic, scheduled for Nov. 24-26, has three NCAA and two WNIT teams from a year ago.
Stephen F. Austin (28-4) lost in the second-round of the NCAA tournament to Louisiana State. North Carolina State (20-9) and Michigan (22-8) were eliminated in the first round.
Arkansas (17-15) reached the semifinal round of the WNIT. Arizona State (14-15), making its first postseason appearance in eight years, lost in the first round.
South Florida (13-16) and Northern Illinois (6-22) round out the eight-team classic field.
Wisconsin (21-12), which defeated Florida in the WNIT championship game, headlines the Hawaii Invitational, Dec. 9-10. Akron (11-17) and Wright State (8-20) also are entered.
The Badgers will be led by Tamara Moore, the WNIT Most Valuable Player who scored 25 points in the title game, and standout center Nina Smith.
The Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic field (Dec. 18-20) has Detroit Mercy (18-9), an upset loser to Wright State in the first round of the Midwest Collegiate Conference tourney, Houston (7-21) and Eastern Washington (11-16).
Wahine notes:
In final NCAA statistics, Kylie Galloway finished ninth in the nation in free throw percentage. The junior forward made 103 of 118 attempts (.873).Dainora Puida had surgery on her right knee to repair a torn ACL and should be ready when practice starts in October.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
