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Wednesday, December 20, 2000
Wahine The University of Hawaii women's basketball team's margin of victory last night in the second round of the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic was half that of its opener, but the win over Eastern Washington was still a decisive one.
ground Eagles
Kylie Galloway pours in
25 points as Hawaii routs
Eastern Washington in
Paradise ClassicBy Brandon Lee
Special to the Star-BulletinAfter blowing out Detroit Mercy by 44 points two nights ago, the host Wahine (8-2) "managed" a convincing 81-59 victory over the Eagles (3-6) before 681 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center to advance to tonight's championship game against Houston.
Houston (6-4) defeated Detroit Mercy (5-5), 90-80, in the early game last night.
In today's games, Detroit Mercy meets Eastern Washington at 5 p.m. and the Wahine face Houston at 7 p.m.
Unlike in their tournament opener, the Wahine were slow out of the gate last night, falling behind, 12-4, just over four minutes into the contest. They initially had a difficult time scoring against the Eagles' zone defense. Their own man-to-man scheme was not hampering Eastern Washington star Jennifer Paluck, who hit three consecutive baskets during the run.
"She's a good player," Hawaii coach Vince Goo said of Paluck. "She has one of the quickest releases around."
But the Wahine's defense stiffened and their offense began to click as they mounted a 20-6 run of their own to go up, 25-18, with 8:18 to play in the first half. They were helped by the Eagles putting them in the bonus situation with seven team fouls barely five minutes into the half.
"I thought it was pretty big (to the outcome of the game)," Eastern Washington coach Jocelyn Pfeifer said of the first-half foul situation. Her team was whistled for 12 fouls to Hawaii's three.
"But we needed to do a better job of shutting down (Kylie) Galloway," Pfeifer added.
The Eagles rallied briefly to retake a one-point lead, but the Wahine made another spurt for a 43-35 halftime advantage.
"It took us a while to get in the flow of the game," said Galloway, who led the first-half UHcharge with 18 points, six rebounds and three assists. "I don't think a team has started off in a zone on us this year--they usually switch to it later--and it took us awhile to deal with."
Hawaii outshot Eastern Washington, 42 to 37 percent, from the field in the first half and the disparity in the percentage and points grew larger in the second half.
The Wahine grabbed their first double-digit lead less than a minute in, then twice built 24-point leads before finishing off the Eagles by 22.
Hawaii finished with a 44 percent field goal rate for the game to Eastern Washington's 33 percent. Particularly significant was the Wahine connecting on 4-of-7 3-pointers in the second half after starting 5-for-14 from beyond the arc.
"We didn't knock the 3's down early in the ballgame, and I think our guards were a little hesitant at first," Goo said.
"You have to take what they give you. Once we settled down, got our feet under us and our rhythm taking our shots, we did a much better job."
Galloway finished with a game-high 25 points despite sitting out nearly half of the second half. Paluck finished with a team-high 23 points in defeat.
Hawaii's second-leading scorer, Crystal Lee, was held to just four points and one field goal after being shut out against Detroit Mercy. She did contribute eight rebounds last night--including three on the offensive glass--but she entered the tournament averaging 18 points per contest.
Still, neither Goo nor Lee said that her lack of scoring recently is significant, as long as the Wahine keep winning.
"I'm not real worried about me scoring," Lee said.
"The last two games have been blowouts and other people have showed they can score, and that's fine."
Hawaii 81, Eastern Washington 59
Eagles fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Chase 3 6 0 0 14 2 1 8 Pilkington 1 9 2 2 19 3 1 4 Nygaard 2 7 2 2 16 3 0 6 Bennion 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 Demetruk 0 1 1 2 16 0 3 1 Paluck 10 26 0 1 37 6 1 23 Granger 1 2 0 0 22 3 4 2 Bailey 1 3 1 2 18 6 2 3 Thoelke 0 3 0 0 13 0 1 0 Carlson 3 5 0 0 15 3 1 7 Ruen 2 6 0 0 23 2 3 5 DeGroot 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 23 69 6 9 200 31 17 59 Wahine fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Galloway 8 13 7 8 29 7 3 25 Croser 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Gabrielova 2 6 2 2 30 7 7 8 Brossman 3 5 0 0 15 3 0 8 Roper 2 8 2 2 17 7 0 6 Gabriel 0 1 2 2 2 1 0 2 Lee 1 4 1 2 25 8 2 4 Atuaia 3 8 0 0 30 4 4 6 Greeny 1 3 0 0 17 2 4 3 Allen 2 3 2 4 13 3 0 6 Puida 5 10 2 3 21 9 1 13 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 27 61 18 23 200 53 21 81 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-Hawaii 43, Eastern Washington 35.
3-point goals--EW 7-14 (Paluck 3-5, Chase 2-3, Carlson 1-1, Ruen 1-3, Pilkington 0-1, Thoelke 0-1), UH 9-21 (Brossman 2-3, Galloway 2-3, Gabrielova 2-6, Puida 1-1, Greeny 1-2, Lee 1-3, Atuaia 0-3). Personal fouls--EW 19, UH 9. Fouled out--None. Technical fouls-None. Steals--EW 8 (Ruen 3, Paluck 2, Bailey, Pilkington, Thoelke), UH 2 (Brossman, Gabrielova). Blocked shots--EW 3 (Bailey, Paluck, Thoelke), UH 5 (Roper 5). Turnovers--EW 9 (Bailey 2, Demetruk 2, Granger 2, Ruen 2, Paluck 1), UH 15 (Galloway 5, Puida 3, Gabrielova 2, Greeny 2, Atuaia, Croser, Roper). Officials--D. Lewis, F. Kau, G. Hayashi. A-1,630.
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