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Monday, January 8, 2001
Wahine rebound The hard lessons learned Friday were not forgotten by the University of Hawaii women's basketball team last night.
to top Mustangs
UH fends off SMU in
character-building victoryBy Al Chase
Star-BulletinThe Wahine used long-range artillery for a quick start, then fended off two Southern Methodist comeback attempts with poise for a 74-56 Western Athletic Conference victory viewed by 694 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The veterans discussed the disappointing loss to Texas Christian, why it happened and how to turn the reasons into positives.
"Saturday's practice was a 'Suck it up practice' because it's hard to keep your head up after a big loss. Everyone came this morning to films ready to play," said UH senior forward Crystal Lee, who scored 16 points.
"I think we wanted to show our character. This was a big game and a lot of key people did a lot of big things," said senior captain Kylie Galloway.
The Mustangs opened with a zone defense. Lee and April Atuaia each hit two 3-pointers to shoot holes in that idea. When the perimeter shot wasn't there, the Wahine isolated Christen Roper down low for a couple of layups.
Eight and a half minutes into the game, UH led, 20-6, in part because the Mustangs started 1-for-12 from the field.
"That's been what we've had to overcome in every game all year," said SMU head coach Rhonda Rompola. "It's a big key for us.
"Against a team like Hawaii you can't dig a big hole. We made some great comebacks but we expended so much energy making those comebacks our shots started falling short."
SMU upped the tempo and defensive pressure the rest of the first half to outscore UH, 17-9, and trail, 29-23, at the half.
The Wahine were guilty of 12 first-half turnovers, which was the first thing UH head coach Vince Goo talked about at halftime.
"We didn't play with as much emotion as we should have when they switched to the pressure man (defense)," said Goo.
The Wahine handled the pressure better in the second half (five turnovers) and built a 15-point lead with 11:35 to play on two Galloway free throws.
But, Katie Remke and SMU's top scorer, D-dra Rucker -- held to three first-half points by the defensive work of Atuaia and Christa Brossman -- started connecting with ominous regularity.
Twice the Mustangs narrowed the deficit to six points. The second time, with 7:55 remaining, Goo called a 30-second timeout.
"We told them to box out, get the rebound and run. We picked up the pace on offense and got some fast breaks. I think that was a key to the game," Goo said.
Eight unanswered points, a layup by Atuaia and three consecutive buckets by Dainora Puida elevated the UH lead to 14 points with 5:12 left. The margin never dipped into single figures again.
Puida, held scoreless by TCU, scored 16 last night and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.
Atuaia had a career-high 15 points in her 13th UH game.
"I felt really good after the first two 3-pointers. All my shots were going in. Coming off the pick, it was wide open," said Atuaia.
Although her shot opportunities resulted from the flow of the game, her matchup with Rucker was by design.
"Our plan was to have April get after Rucker, to contain her penetration and bother the jumper. It was going to be a tag team between April and Brossman, especially if Rucker got hot," said UH assistant coach Jon Newlee.
"D-dra did get hot in the second half when I think April got a little tired, but Christa came in and did a good job."
What allows the coaches to assign Atuaia to the opponent's top scorer?
"It's her mentality. She's tough and she's gutty. If you succeed against her, she'll come back harder," said Goo.
The Wahine leave Friday to play at Texas-El Paso Sunday and at Tulsa on Jan. 16.
Hawaii 74, Southern Methodist 56
Mustangs (1-1 WAC, 6-7 overall)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Krouch 1 2 0 0 23 2 1 2 Calvert 2 10 0 0 33 4 0 4 Rucker 7 15 0 0 30 1 1 18 McPeters 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 Glover 1 2 1 2 21 2 0 3 Alexander 1 6 1 3 23 3 1 3 Cossey 3 13 0 0 25 3 3 8 Remke 3 7 4 4 34 8 1 11 Patton 2 5 2 2 9 4 0 7 Team 0 Totals 20 61 8 11 200 27 7 56 Wahine (1-1 WAC,10-3 overall)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Galloway 3 7 2 2 28 4 5 9 Gabrielova 3 8 1 1 32 1 3 7 Roper 3 8 2 2 15 10 2 8 Brossman 1 2 0 0 6 0 0 2 Gabriel 0 1 0 1 5 0 0 1 Lee 7 13 0 0 38 7 2 16 Puida 7 11 2 3 27 13 1 16 Atuaia 6 11 1 2 35 8 1 15 Allen 0 2 0 0 7 2 0 0 Greeny 0 1 0 0 7 1 0 0 Team 2 Totals 30 64 9 12 200 48 14 74 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 29, Southern Methodist 23.
3-point goals-SMU 8-22 (Remke 1-1, Rucker 4-6, Patton 1-1, Alexander 0-1, Calvert 0-4), UH 5-11 (Atuaia 2-4, Lee 2-4, Galloway 1-2, Gabriel 0-1). Personal fouls-SMU 17, UH 12. Fouled out-none. Steals-SMU 6 (Alexander 6), UH 4 (Galloway, Roper, Lee, Puida). Blocked shots-SMU 5 (Alexander 3), UH 2 (Roper 2). Turnovers-SMU 13 (Krouch, Alexander 3), UH 17 (Gabrielova 4). Technicals-none. Officials-Fujimoto, Blaque, Feroah. A-694.
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