Sunday, November 25, 2001
[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
The Hawaii women's basketball team never doubted they could play with Stanford, ranked seventh in the latest Associated Press poll. It just took seven minutes for the Wahine to translate that belief into action on the court. Wahine hang with Stanford,
but loseBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com
In the end, the Cardinal prevailed 71-60, but not before having to overcome five Hawaii leads in a game that had blowout written all over it in the early going.
Stanford will go after its fourth Panda Travel Rainbow Wahine Classic title tonight at 6 against Penn State, ranked No. 23 in the coaches poll.
The Lady Lions defeated Oklahoma State 73-64 in yesterday's other semifinal matchup at the Stan Sheriff Center. UH (3-1) and OSU play for third place at 3:50 p.m.
"When you fall back -- what did we fall back, 28-9? -- it takes a lot of energy to come back, but it takes more courage than energy," said UH coach Vince Goo. "That's a test early in the year. With the way we came back, the results were good."
After Stanford's Nicole Powell and UH's Janka Gabrielova traded opening 3-pointers, the Cardinal outscored the Wahine 25-6 over the next 6:18. Operating with uncanny efficiency, Stanford buried 10 of its first 12 field goal attempts.
When a media time out was called at 10:55, the Cardinal led 28-9, were shooting 63 percent from the field and were living up to their Top 10 ranking.
During that same time frame, the Wahine committed six turnovers and managed to make just three of their first 10 attempts from the field.
Then, the whole complexion of the game changed. The Cardinal went a truly uncharacteristic 10 minutes without scoring while Hawaii ran off 21 consecutive points to take a 30-28 lead.
Lindsey Yamasaki's basket finally broke Stanford's drought with 2:59 left before intermission.
"In the beginning, they were red hot and on offense we were one pass and shoot, which meant we were getting back and set on defense," said UH captain Karena Greeny.
"You have to give credit to the girls who came off the bench. They are the ones who got us going."
Jade Abele's layup and ensuing free throw jumpstarted the Wahine. Christen Roper curled in two short hook shots around a 3-pointer and two free throws by Michelle Gabriel. Two free throws by Natasja Allen and two more by April Atuaia put the Wahine up 32-30.
Another Yamasaki bucket, one by Cori Enghusen and two free throws by Kelley Suminski put Stanford up at the half, 36-32.
"It was a game of extremes. It was a good challenge for us," said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. "When you take quick shots and they go in, it's contagious, but we weren't patient on offense. The foul situation was disruptive and took us out of our flow.
"It's a compliment to Hawaii that they didn't give up. We needed a good battle."
The Wahine obliged the Cardinal and were tied at 50 when Abele drove the lane for a layup with 9:21 to go. But turnovers on four of the next five offensive trips by Allen, Abele, Atuaia and Christen Roper contributed greatly to Stanford scoring the next 13 points.
But two baskets by Roper on good inside moves, Greeny's 3-pointer and two free throws by Gabrielova left the Wahine trailing by six, 65-59, with 2:02 to play and possession under their own basket.
However, on the inbounds play, Atuaia cut the wrong way and the ball floated toward midcourt, where Lauren St. Clair took it in for an uncontested layup. That forced UH into a fouling game that didn't work.
"This is why we wanted Stanford in our bracket. We really wanted last night's game (vs. Wyoming) so we could match up against them," Goo said. "Stanford is a team that every year has excellent talent and every year they're well coached. I want to coach against Tara VanDerveer and our players want to play against Stanford just to see where we're at.
"I'm a little disappointed at our decisions down the stretch, but I'm really proud of our ball club."
Roper was the high Wahine with 13 points. Yamasaki paced the Cardinal with 14 points despite being on foul trouble much of the second half.
Penn State 73, Oklahoma State 54: The Lady Lions (3-1) were nursing a 22-21 lead with 7:37 left in the opening half when they used a 14-4 run to create some breathing room heading into the locker room. Ashli Schwab and Hazel Joseph highlighted the spurt with two baskets each.
Penn State increased the lead to 20 points, 53-33, nine minutes into the second half and kept the Cowgirls (3-2) at bay by shooting 50 percent from the field.
Kelly Mazzante paced the Lady Lions with 25 points. Trisha Skibbe, who left the game for several minutes in the first half with a twisted left ankle, returned to lead OSU with 15 points.
In consolation bracket games:
Minnesota 92, Wyoming 64: Guard Lindsay Whalen made 11 of 16 field goal attempts and all three free throws to lead five Golden Gophers (3-1) in double figures with 25 points. Minnesota shot 57 percent from the field and held Wyoming to a 36 percent success rate on field goal attempts.
Forward Daric Arsene topped the Cowgirls (1-2) with 17 points and was closely followed by guard Carly Stucky, who had 16 points.
Weber State 85, Florida Atlantic 63: The Wildcats (3-1), who led by a slim 33-32 margin at the half and just 47-44 with 11:48 to go, outscored the Owls (0-2) 38-17 over the final 11 minutes to move into today's fifth-place game against Minnesota at 1:40 p.m.
Guard Stephanie Stanger scored 13 of her team-high 20 points during Weber State's game-clinching run. Guard Kristen Clyder-Gardner added 17 points.
Florida Atlantic forward Tamica Pierce led all scorers with 27 points.
The Owls play Wyoming in the seventh place game today at 11:30 a.m.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii