Wahine Basketball Playbook
at Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Tipoff -- Tomorrow, 3 p.m., Donald W. Reynolds Center, Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches -- Hawaii: Vince Goo, 14th season (272-119, .696); Tulsa: Kathy McConnell-Miller, 2nd season (20-25, .444).
Season -- Hawaii (2-1 conference, 11-3 overall); Tulsa (0-2 conference, 3-10 overall).
Series -- Hawaii's leads, 3-1. Last meeting: Tulsa won at home, 54-40, Feb. 17, 2000.
Top players -- Hawaii: Forward Kylie Galloway (6-0, Sr., 17.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game); forward Crystal Lee (5-foot-11, Sr., 15.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg); guard Jana Gabrielova (5-6, Jr., 8.3 ppg, 4.1 assists per game) and center Christen Roper (6-5, Soph., 3.1 blocks per game). Tulsa: Forward Leela Farr (5-11, Jr., 11.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg); center Becky Heidotten (6-3, Fr., 10.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and guard Athena Pirpich (5-4, Sr., 8.7 ppg, 2.0 steals per game).
Keys -- Goo is leery of the Golden Hurricane. He thinks they are about to break out of an early season slump, one in which they went on the road to beat Colorado State, then were soundly thumped at Arkansas."I thought they would be scoring more than they have," Goo said. ... The Wahine played their worst game on offense of the 1999-2000 season here and the veterans will want to make amends. The coaches have reminded the players of this fact. ... The key against Texas-El Paso was the superb manner in which each Wahine handled her defensive assignments. Goo could only point to one UTEP inbounds play where a Wahine missed her assignment completely. ... If Tulsa is to turn its season around, the Wahine don't want it to be because they didn't focus on playing defense. Sweeping the first road trip would boost the confidence of the first-year players.
Also of note -- Tulsa has lost five consecutive games. The Golden Hurricane shot just .279 from the field and only converted 15 of 27 free throw attempts in yesterday's six-point loss to San Jose State. ... Gabrielova's 6-for-8 effort from 3-point land against UTEP raised her shooting percentage from beyond the arc from .387 to .462. Lee leads the starters with a .447 percentage on her 3-point attempts. ... Galloway's six assists against UTEP was a season high for the UH captain.
On the air -- Broadcast live on KCCN (1420 AM); also available on the Internet at www.uhathletics.hawaii.edu/Sportslive/listen.html.
By Al Chase, Star-Bulletin
