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Monday, December 11, 2000
Hawaii uses Balance was the key for the University of Hawaii women's basketball team in last night's Hawaii Invitational before a sparse crown of 494 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.
a balanced attack
to beat Akron
MVP Kylie Galloway had
18 points as four Wahine
scored in double figuresBy Al Chase
Star-BulletinThe Wahine won their second tournament in three attempts and improved to 6-2 overall.
Four Wahine scored in double figures and the bench contributed 18 points in the 67-54 victory over the University of Akron.
Christen Roper set career highs for blocked shots (6) and minutes played (28) and tied her career high for points (10). She also had nine rebounds for the second consecutive game.
Freshman guard Christa Brossman scored seven points in 10 minutes, her best as a Wahine.
Roper and Crystal Lee were all-tournament picks while Kylie Galloway as the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Hawaii had success with the lob pass down low early, ran the motion offense repeatedly for the first time, forced a season-high 11 steals with full-court pressure and use an up tempo game throughout, not always with success.
"We were watching tape and we could see, passing from the top, there was no help on defense (down low in the middle)," Hawaii point guard Jana Gabrielova said.
Roper, Dainora Puida and Galloway benefited from the strategy.
"We've had motion all along. The coaches just pick a couple of offenses each tournament so the point guards can get used to them," said Galloway, who scored a game-high 18 points.
Hawaii held the Zips' top scorer, Cheryl Bowles, to nine points, but Angela Tylec, Jamie Krivak and Sandy Martin picked up the slack.
Akron trailed, 29-26, with 4:30 left before the half, but 3-pointers by Gabrielova and Galloway and two Roper layups gave the Wahine a 39-30 edge at intermission.
Twice Roper sank layups to give Hawaii an 18-point lead late in the second half.
A year ago as a freshman, she had to think about each move and where she was supposed to be on the court for a particular play.
"I'm feeling more and more comfortable. Most of the time it is second nature, but I can't say all the time," Roper said.
The 6-foot-5 center also has developed a much softer touch in close to the glass instead of banging the ball off the boards.
"It's all practice," she said.
UH head coach Vince Goo also put Puida and Roper in a high post, low post situation for the first time this season.
"It was fun. That's when I had to think about what I was doing. I was the 4 player and Dainora stayed the 5 player," Roper said.
"We went high low and were successful early. We were a lot better tonight than we we're last night," Goo said. "It's something we wanted to work this weekend.
"We didn't have that opportunity against Wright State (Saturday) because they were smaller and a lot quicker. With Akron using two post people we thought we would try that. Dainora and Christen worked pretty good high-low together."
The Wahine did miss connecting on several long passes which Gabrielova said should have been a little shorter.
"That's the chance you take when you try to fast break," Galloway said.
"We just didn't convert. The pass was a little long or wasn't caught, but those are areas we can work on."
The Wahine have two days off from practice this week to prepare for and take final exams.
They practice this weekend in preparation for the final tournament, the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic, Dec. 18-20, with Detroit-Mercy, Eastern Washington and Houston, the same Houston team that beat No. 8 Louisiana Tech two weeks ago.
GALLOWAY BEST OF THE BEST:
Joining Galloway on the All-Tournament team were Wahine teammates Christen Roper and Crystal Lee; Reggen Stewart of Wright State; and Akron's Sandy Martin and Cheryl Bowles.
Hawaii 67, Akron 54
Zips (2-7 overall, 0-1 tournament)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Larson 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Carter 0 0 2 2 7 1 0 2 Stephenson 0 9 0 0 26 3 1 0 Krivak 3 9 0 0 38 3 4 6 Tylec 1 7 0 0 23 1 1 17 Bowles 6 13 3 4 37 8 2 9 Cooper 0 0 0 0 26 3 0 4 Scott 3 8 0 0 6 1 0 0 Booms 0 7 0 0 3 0 0 0 Martin 1 7 2 4 30 11 3 14 McDivitt 1 7 0 1 2 0 0 2 Team 2 Totals 22 60 7 11 200 33 11 54 Wahine (6-2 overall, 2-0 tournament)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Galloway 8 17 0 1 33 4 2 18 Gabrielova 3 3 2 2 34 3 4 10 Brossman 3 5 0 1 10 2 1 7 Roper 4 6 2 2 28 9 0 10 Gabriel 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Lee 5 9 3 4 35 4 2 15 Atuaia 0 7 1 2 33 5 4 1 Greeny 0 0 0 0 6 0 1 0 Allen 0 1 0 2 4 3 0 0 Puida 2 4 2 2 15 5 2 6 Team 1 Totals 25 52 10 16 200 36 16 67 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 39,Akron 30.
3-Point Goals-Akron 3-13 (Tylec 1-2, Krivak 2-5, Stephenson 0-3, Bowles 0-3), UH 7-22 (Gabrielova 2-2, Brossman 1-1, Lee 2-5, Galloway 2-9, Atuaia 0-4, Puida 0-1). Fouled out-None. Total fouls-Akron 17, UH 13. Steals-Akron 7 (Tylec 3), UH 11 (Gabrielova 6). Blocked shots-Akron 1 (Scott), UH 7 (Roper 6). Turnovers-Akron 22 (Krivak 6), UH 23 (Gabrielova, Atuaia 4). Technicals-none. Officials-Yamasaki, Apo, Hayashi. A-494.
UH Athletics
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