Saturday, December 29, 2001
[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
Hawaii wasn't pretty on offense, but the Wahine basketball team turned in an outstanding game on defense to win its Western Athletic Conference opener last night at Boise, Idaho. Wahine ‘D’ key to win
Star-Bulletin staff
The Wahine defeated Boise State 61-48 in the first meeting between the teams. The game was sluggish for a half and one that Hawaii was unable to gain a sense of control until a little more than five minutes remained.
In a strange opening half, UH held the Broncos scoreless for the first six minutes, but only managed to score eight points, six by Natasja Allen, during that span. Boise State then scored 11 unanswered points.
With a little more than three minutes before the break and neither team shooting well from the field, Boise State held an 18-17 lead. But, the Wahine scored the final seven points of the half on Christen Roper's short jumper, a 3-pointer from Karena Greeny and Janka Gabrielova's diving layup to take a 24-18 lead into the locker room.
The Broncos limited the UH inside game by double-teaming Roper and Allen when they received the ball down low. The Wahine didn't have an answer with their perimeter shooting until Greeny sank two 3-pointers just before the half.
"The message at halftime was, as poor as we played offensively, we still had a lead," said UH coach Vince Goo. "We had 11 turnovers at the half and lot of them were unforced. We were out of control.
"We knew the altitude (2,842 feet above sea level) was going to affect us. At practice Thursday after the first five minutes, we were breathing hard."
The Wahine nursed small leads for the first 10-plus minutes of the second half, but saw the Broncos (4-7) pull to within two points (39-37) on Crista Peterson's 15-foot jumper with 9:27 to play.
Hawaii then opened up a nine-point lead (50-41) with an 11-4 spurt in which Roper hit a left-handed hook shot, Chelsea Wagner sank a trey from the corner, Greeny's 12-foot jumper went down, and Gabrielova and April Atuaia each made two free throws. Gabrielova's charity tosses were the results of a technical on Boise State for having six players in the game.
"I saw No. 22 out there and no one was guarding her," said Goo who could be heard yelling, "That's a technical, that's a technical," on the radio broadcast.
Peterson, who led all scorers with 24 points and scored 16 of Boise State's 18 points during one second-half stretch, was held scoreless the final 2:34 as UH protected its lead.
"Peterson is a post player, but she was hitting jumpers from 15 to 18 feet, so we put Greeny on her and defended her like a perimeter player," said Goo.
Atuaia, Hawaii's shooting guard, corralled a career-high 16 rebounds.
"April was unbelievable," Goo said. "I think it was 5 percent talent and 95 percent hustle.
"We played a very good defensive game," Goo said. "On their floor they shot five free throws and we shot 19. That's like us being at home. Our post people didn't handle the ball well, had some travel calls and made bad passes, but I'm pretty proud of the effort we put out tonight."
Hawaii plays Texas-El Paso tomorrow.
No. 11 Louisiana Tech 102, Nevada 58: At Reno, Nev., Ayana Walker scored 17 points as Louisiana Tech won its WAC opener.
The Lady Techsters (6-3), who won nine of the last 10 Sun Belt Conference titles before moving to the WAC this season, won easily in the first of 18 straight conference games.
Katie Golomb had 17 points for Nevada (3-7).
Fresno State 70, Southern Methodist 63: At Fresno. Calif., the Bulldogs snapped a three-game skid to improve to 6-5. The Mustangs fell to 5-6.
Aiea alumna Aritta Lane scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Fresno State.
Rice 72, Notre Dame 61: At Houston, Johnetta Hayes scored 18 to lead the Lady Owls (6-3) past the defending national champion Fighting Irish (5-5).
San Jose State 73, Texas-El Paso 48: The Spartans (6-4, 1-0) were paced by Elea A'Giza, who had 25 points and 10 rebounds in beating the Miners (3-8, 0-1).
Hawaii 61, Boise State 48
WAHINE (8-2, 1-0 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Gabrielova 2 8 2 2 38 2 6 7 Roper 5 12 2 2 29 3 1 12 Atuaia 2 7 2 3 38 16 6 7 Allen 5 13 5 6 33 6 0 15 Greeny 3 5 2 2 35 7 2 10 Willoughby 2 3 1 2 10 4 0 5 Brossman 0 5 2 2 9 4 0 2 Gabriel 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 Wagner 1 1 0 0 5 0 0 3 Totals 20 54 16 19 200 46 15 61 BRONCOS (4-7, 0-1 Wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Binford 1 6 0 0 23 2 2 3 Vaughn 2 6 0 0 31 2 3 4 Woodfield 3 6 1 2 35 5 4 8 Swindall 0 5 0 0 22 7 1 0 Peterson 11 20 2 2 30 5 0 24 Welch 2 10 0 1 16 3 1 5 Nakashima 0 1 0 0 5 1 1 0 Ramirez 0 1 0 0 9 0 0 0 Little 2 7 0 0 18 4 0 4 Grant 0 0 0 0 11 1 0 0 Totals 21 62 3 5 200 32 12 48 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 22, Boise State 18
3-point goals--Hawaii 5-11 (Greeny 2-3, Gabrielova 1-4, Atuaia 1-2, Wagner 1-1, Brossman 0-1), Boise State 3-18 (Welch 1-6, Binford 1-4, Woodfield 1-3, Vaughn 0-3, Nakashima 0-1, Ramirez 0-1). Personal fouls--Hawaii 9, Boise State 16. Steals--Hawaii 6 (Greeny 4, Gabrielova, Atuaia), Boise State 6 (Peterson 2, Vaughn, Swindall, Little Grant). Blocked shots--Hawaii 2 (Willoughby, Brossman), Boise State 3 (Vaughn, Swindall, Little). Turnovers--Hawaii 19, Boise State 14. A--1,015.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
