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Saturday, February 24, 2001

Wahine cut loose
on Spartans

UH takes on TCU tomorrow

Wahine Playbook

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From staff and wire reports

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Forget the first 14 minutes of the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball game against San Jose State last night.

In the final 26 minutes, the University of Hawaii scored 80 points, with 60 falling through the net in the second half.

The 91-61 win clinched at least a second-place finish for the Wahine (20-5, 11-3 WAC) and set the stage for tomorrow's showdown with WAC leader Texas Christian.

With senior forward Kylie Galloway on the bench with two fouls for the last 17 minutes of the first half, the UH offense sputtered.

The defense remained firm, and, once the offense got going, a small deficit was quickly wiped out.

The Wahine outscored the Spartans, 21-11, to finish the half, began the second half with an 18-8 run and led by at least 20 points for the final 8:48 of the game.

Hawaii cut the point output of SJSU guards Atari Parker and Danada Smith from 54 in the Jan. 21 loss to 18 last night.

The Wahine have worked in the second round on denying the opposing top guns the ball. Parker and Smith got off 48 shots last month, 22 last night.

"We had Jana Gabrielova on Parker early. When Smith got hot in the second half, Jana took her," UH coach Vince Goo said.

"We put April Atuaia on the other wing. We also rotated Christa Brossman and Karena Greeny on the wings and even had Crystal Lee at point guard, which was a little unorthodox."

UH also made excellent use of its height advantage. Sophomore center Christen Roper had career highs for points (19), rebounds (16), minutes (32) and field goals made and attempted (7-for-13).

"Christen was aggressive in the second half at Rice and we wanted her to keep doing that. Of her six misses, three were under the basket by herself, but she converted a lot more than she normally does," Goo said.

The Wahine outrebounded the Spartans, 50-30. More importantly, they limited SJSU to nine offensive rebounds. The Spartans had hauled down 20 or more off the offensive boards in their last three games.

It was the 10th time, and fifth in the last six seasons, the Wahine have reached the 20-win mark in Goo's 14 years as head coach.

Lee had 19 second-half points en route to a game-high 28, her 11th straight game in double figures.

Hawaii 91, San Jose State 61

Wahine (20-5, 11-3 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Galloway	5	10	1	1	18	2	1	12
Lee	8	15	8	9	30	7	4	28
Roper	7	13	5	6	32	16	1	19
Gabrielova	2	3	2	2	30	2	5	7
Atuaia	2	7	2	4	21	4	5	6
Brossman	2	7	4	4	12	2	0	8
Gabriel	0	2	0	0	10	2	1	0
Puida	2	6	0	0	21	4	1	4
Allen	0	0	2	2	9	4	0	2
Greeny	2	2	1	2	17	2	1	5
Team	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0
Totals	30	65	25	30	200	50	19	91

Spartans (12-14, 4-11 WAC)

	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Taylor	0	3	2	2	13	1	1	2
A’Giza	2	10	0	0	27	5	1	4
M. Smith	2	5	2	6	27	4	0	6
Parker	4	10	1	1	33	3	0	10
Kellogg	3	4	0	0	15	1	0	7
Taylor	0	3	0	0	7	1	1	0
Smith	3	12	1	2	23	6	0	8
Borello	1	1	2	2	3	0	0	5
Williams	5	11	0	0	27	1	6	12
Igoni	0	0	1	2	12	2	0	1
Jones	3	7	0	0	13	4	1	6
Team	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
Totals	23	66	9	15	200	30	10	61

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 31, San Jose State 26.
3-point goals-UH 6-13 (Gabrielova 1-1, Lee 4-7, Galloway 1-3, Gabriel 0-1, Atuaia 0-1),SJSU 6-18 (Kellogg 1-1, Borello 1-1, Parker 1-3, D. Smith 1-5, Williams 2-6, A'Giza 0-2). Personal fouls-UH 13, SJSU 24. Fouled out-None. Steals-UH 6 (Atuaia, Gabrielova 2), SJSU 9 (M. Smith 3). Blocked shots-UH 2 (Roper 2), SJSU 5 (M. Smith 3). Turnovers-UH 19 (Nine players with 2), SJSU 17 (Parker 7). Technicals-none. Officials-Balque, Adams, Johnson. A-875.

WAC standings

	Conference	Overall
	W	L	Pct.	W	L	Pct.
TCU	11	2	.846	19	6	.760
Hawaii	11	3	.786	20	5	.800
SMU	8	5	.615	13	11	.542
Nevada	7	6	.538	14	11	.560
Rice	6	7	.462	14	11	.560
Fresno St.	5	8	.385	9	16	.360
UTEP	4	9	.308	8	16	.333
Tulsa	4	9	.308	8	17	.320
San Jose St.	4	11	.267	12	14	.462

Yesterday's results

Hawaii 91, San Jose State 61
Tulsa 67, Rice 57

Tomorrow's games

Hawaii at Texas Christian
Fresno State at Nevada
Rice at Texas-El Paso
Tulsa at Southern Methodist

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WAHINE PLAYBOOK

at Texas Christian Horned Frogs

Tipoff -- Tomorrow, 10 a.m., Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, Fort Worth, Texas.

Coaches -- Hawaii: Vince Goo, 14th season (281-121, .699); Texas Christian: Jeff Mittie, ninth season (167-74, .693).

Season -- Hawaii (20-5, 11-3 conference); Texas Christian (19-6, 11-2 conference).

Series -- Hawaii leads, 5-1. Last meeting: TCU won the conference opener for both teams, 72-66 in overtime, Jan. 5, 2001, at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Top players -- Hawaii: F Crystal Lee (5-foot-11, Sr., 15.8 points, 5.7 rebounds per game); F Kylie Galloway (6-0, Sr., 15.0 ppg, 4.9 rpg); C Dainora Puida (6-4, Sr., 10.4 ppg, 8.3 rpg); C Christen Roper (6-5, So., 5.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.7 blocked shots per game). Texas Christian: F Kati Safaritova (Jr., 11.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg); G Tricia Payne (5-11, Jr., 9.8 ppg); G Jill Sutton (5-9, Sr., 9.3 ppg); F Janice Thomas (6-0, Sr., 9.3 ppg, 7.6 rpg).

Keys -- The Hawaii players are tired from traveling, but you would never know it from the way they ran in the second half against San Jose State. The Wahine may have to dig into the reserve tank tomorrow. ... Texas Christian is coming off a three-game road trip, but has been home since Wednesday and should be revitalized. First place is on the line. This may be a game where controlling emotions is a determining factor. ... The Horned Frogs average 72 points a game and do it with a balanced rotation, as seven players average six or more points per outing. Safaritova killed UH with her work in the paint earlier this year, but the Wahine have to focus on stopping the TCU offense as a whole, not just one player. The Horned Frogs also have several very good 3-point shooters. The Wahine need a solid, mistake-free effort.

Also of note -- The Wahine left their hotel in San Jose at 7 this morning and, after a three-leg flight to Dallas through Los Angeles and Denver, plan to get in an hour's practice tonight. "The forecast calls for snow in Denver and freezing rain in Dallas, so I hope we make it," UH coach Vince Goo said. ... If Hawaii wins tomorrow to gain a share of first place and remains tied with TCU at the completion of the regular season, the Wahine have the edge in tiebreakers.

On the air -- Broadcast live on KCCN (1420-AM); also available on the Internet at uhathletics.hawaii.edu.

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Al Chase, Star-Bulletin

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http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu