Monday, January 14, 2002
[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
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Wahine tumble When the Western Athletic Conference coaches picked Louisiana Tech to win the league title in their preseason poll, they were probably right.
to Lady Techsters
But Hawaii holds the visiting
WAC leaders to their lowest
point-total of the seasonBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com
It may have seemed like an easy choice, given Tech's winning tradition, but the games still have to be played. When Tech coach Leon Barmore cast his vote, it was for Hawaii.
"I don't know if Leon was guessing, but he guessed right. Hawaii is an NCAA team," said Tech associate coach Kurt Budke. He's filling in for Barmore who remained in Louisiana due to a family member's illness.
The Lady Techsters upped their winning streak to 10 games and ended Hawaii's streak at six with a 67-55 victory before 1,693 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center last night.
"I told the girls from the minute we got here, this was not a vacation. We did go to Pearl Harbor and a luau, but when we got back to the hotel Saturday night, I told them they had to focus on Hawaii for the next 24 hours," Budke said.
The Lady Techsters (11-3 overall, 6-0 WAC) used an 8-0 run early in the first half and a 13-2 run toward the end to take a 16-point lead (40-24) at intermission. It could have been worse for Hawaii, which got a boost from Natasja Allen's three inside buckets in the last two minutes.
Louisiana Tech had much success with its inside game as 6-foot-3 Cheryl Ford scored 17 first-half points.
Hawaii's defense knew what was coming, but suffered when Christen Roper went to the bench with two early first-half fouls.
"We need height in the first half. Christen plays only four minutes, and they break out to a pretty big lead," UH coach Vince Goo said. "We were successful in disguising some things and had people sneak around her (Ford) defensively, but that (Roper on the bench) certainly made a difference."
Tech's love of the inside game wasn't something cooked up just for the Wahine. This is the Lady Techsters' game.
"We go inside and we just keep jamming the ball in there until we get tired of doing it," said Budke. "We've got experienced inside players and we feel we can wear down other teams. It's no major breakthrough. It's just what we do."
When UH did shut down the inside, Louisiana Tech turned to 5-9 guard Amber Obaze, who seemed to be able to score on any kind of shot. She was 9-for-15 from the field and finished with 22 points.
Experience inside also means tough defense and even tougher battles for rebounds. The Wahine (10-3, 3-1) did not fare that well off the boards. Hawaii averages 45 rebounds a game. Last night, the Wahine were credited with 29.
Louisiana Tech, ranked No. 11 in last week's AP poll, had 45 rebounds, led by Ford's 17.
"They are very quick. You can talk about their offense. That's one thing," Goo said. "But, their strength is their defensive quickness. They get a lot of good hands, good feet and they help really good. They made it difficult to run our offense."
"We wanted to run the clock down and look for a good shot any time we had it. We didn't want to rush it. We knew going in we were not going to get a good shot early against them."
Hawaii cut Tech's lead to nine points early in the second half and got it down to 10 with a minute to go, but the Lady Techsters were just too good, too balanced and too deep to allow a significant UH spurt.
"They did a good job of denying our people the ball in the first half," UH point guard Janka Gabrielova said. "I had to dribble around too much. Coach told us we had more options, and the girls realized it was going to be a physical game. That's why we scored more baskets in the second half."
The Wahine pushed the ball up court better and ran a more crisp offense after intermission. But, the first-half deficit was too much to overcome.
"We told the girls coming in the measurement of success is how hard you try and how hard you compete in whatever you do," Goo said. "Sometimes you might get a B instead of an A, but if you tried your best, gave your best effort, you can think that you are successful.
"In tonight's game we came up short, weren't the winners, but I think we've got a bunch of successful people because they competed for all 40 minutes. I think there were times we outplayed Louisiana Tech."
Notes: The 67 points is Louisiana Tech's lowest output of the season. ... UH forward Kim Willoughby suffered a cut over her left eye in the second half, but was able to return to action. ... The Wahine hit the road tomorrow to play Rice and Tulsa.
Louisiana Tech 67, Hawaii 55
Lady Techsters (11-3, 6-0)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Smith 2 3 0 0 9 3 1 4 Walker 4 9 2 2 31 8 0 10 Lassiter 1 7 0 0 34 5 5 3 Ford 10 23 4 6 32 17 1 24 Perry 0 6 0 0 37 2 6 0 Obaze 9 15 4 4 35 5 3 22 Lewis 1 1 0 0 6 0 0 2 Frierson 1 4 0 0 16 2 2 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 28 68 10 12 200 45 18 67 WAHINE (10-3, 3-1)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Willoughby 2 3 0 0 14 1 0 4 Abele 1 3 0 1 10 1 2 2 Gabrielova 3 9 3 4 34 2 6 11 Roper 2 3 2 2 20 3 0 6 Brossman 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 0 Gabriel 0 0 0 0 6 0 1 0 Sijercic 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Atuaia 2 3 1 3 32 3 1 5 Allen 6 15 1 2 34 7 0 13 Greeny 2 7 0 0 31 4 1 4 Wagner 4 8 2 3 15 0 0 10 Team 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 Totals 22 53 9 15 200 29 11 55 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-Louisiana Tech 40, Hawaii 24.
3-point goals--Louisiana Tech 1-13 (Lassiter 1-6, Perry 0-1, Obaze 0-1, Perry 0-5), Hawaii 2-11 (Gabrielova 2-7, Greeny 0-1, Wagner 0-3). Personal fouls--Louisiana Tech 18, Hawaii 13. Technical fouls--none. Steals--Louisiana Tech 7 (Ford 2, Perry 2, Lassiter, Obaze, Lewis); Hawaii 3 (Roper, Gabrielova, Atuaia). Blocked shots--Louisiana Tech 6 (Walker 2, Ford 2, Frierson 2); Hawaii 2 (Roper, Allen). Turnovers--Louisiana Tech 14 (Ford 6, Walker 3, Lewis 2, Lassiter, Perry, Team); Hawaii 18 (Gabrielova 4, Greeny 3, Roper 3, Allen 2, Willoughby 2, Sijercic, Atuaia, Gabriel, Team 2). Officials--Stevens, Fujimoto, Ortega
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii