Sunday, February 3, 2002
[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
SAN JOSE, Calif. >> From thousands of miles away, April Atuaia is still able to help the Hawaii basketball team. Atuaia inspires Wahine
to road winFrom staff and wire reports
Atuaia -- sidelined in Honolulu with a torn ACL in her left knee -- didn't play at San Jose State yesterday but was still a source of motivation for the Wahine in their first game with a new starting lineup this season.
Hawaii coach Vince Goo reminded his team late in the second half that Atuaia would be disappointed in the defensive effort the team was showing. Spurred by his words, the Wahine tightened up on defense and endured a furious Spartan second half to win 66-57.
With the win, the Wahine move into sole possession of second place behind Louisiana Tech in the Western Athletic Conference. Hawaii improves to 14-4, 7-2 in the Western Athletic Conference while the Spartans fall a game behind at 11-8, 6-4.
The 522 at the Event Center in San Jose saw a very similar game to this season's previous meeting in Honolulu. Hawaii opened with a decent first-half advantage but saw it disappear late in the game.
"San Jose is a team that if you give them a little space and a little spark, they're going to come back on you," Hawaii coach Vince Goo said. "They're talented enough to score very quickly."
The Wahine held a 17-point lead early in the second half at 39-22, before the Spartans outscored them by 15 points in the next 11 minutes. Cricket Williams, the WAC's leading scorer at 18 points per game, drained two 3-pointers and hit a 10-foot jumper during the run. Jessica Kellogg's 3-pointer with 4:44 left gave San Jose State its first lead of the game at 52-49.
But the Wahine responded with the play of seniors Karena Greeny and Janka Gabrielova. Greeny drained three baskets, including a 3-pointer that helped the Wahine regain the lead for good at 56-52. Gabrielova scored on a layup and then converted two from the charity stripe for an eight-point lead. Three defensive rebounds by Greeny denied the Spartans any second chances late in the game.
The senior forward finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Gabrielova led the Wahine in scoring with 17 points and dished out seven assists.
"She had a good game scoring-wise," Goo said. "She had a good game defensively and for the most part she ran our offense really well."
Chelsea Wagner started in the absence of Atuaia and scored eight points, all in the first half.
Hawaii travels to Texas-El Paso for a makeup game tomorrow at 4 p.m. Hawaii time. The Miners are the only conference team the Wahine haven't faced. During the Wahine's first road trip in late December, snow delayed the team from taking off from Boise. By the time they reached Salt Lake City, they had already missed their connecting flight to El Paso.
"We have a long travel day tomorrow and don't practice until late," Goo said. "We'll just need to come out and perform against them on Monday."
WAC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L La. Tech 11 0 1.000 -- 16 3 Hawai'i 7 2 .778 3 14 4 Rice 8 3 .727 3 14 6 Tulsa 8 3 .727 3 13 8 SJSU 6 4 .600 412 11 8 Nevada 4 7 .364 7 7 13 Fresno St. 3 8 .273 8 8 13 SMU 3 8 .273 8 8 13 Boise St. 2 9 .182 9 6 15 UTEP 1 9 .100 912 3 15 Hawaii 66, San Jose St. 57
Spartans (11-8, 6-4 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Ta. Taylor 6 10 1 2 24 3 0 13 A'Giza 4 9 2 2 34 8 0 10 M. Smith 1 2 0 0 22 3 1 2 Williams 6 19 3 3 40 4 5 18 Parker 0 10 0 0 20 2 1 0 Andrews 0 2 0 2 6 1 0 0 Kellogg 6 10 0 0 27 3 1 14 Te. Taylor 0 4 0 0 12 1 0 0 C. Smith 0 0 0 0 15 4 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 23 66 6 9 200 32 8 57 Wahine (14-4, 7-2 Wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Allen 6 9 2 2 29 7 2 14 Greeny 6 11 0 1 37 8 3 14 Roper 1 6 1 2 34 5 1 3 Gabrielova 5 9 5 6 34 4 7 17 Wagner 3 9 0 0 30 4 1 8 Willoughby 1 2 3 4 13 3 0 5 Abele 0 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 Brossman 1 1 3 7 9 3 1 5 Gabriel 0 0 0 0 6 1 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 23 48 14 22 200 39 15 66 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 32, San Jose St. 20
3-point goals--Hawaii 6-12 (Gabrielova 2-5, Wagner 2-4, Greeny 2-2, Abele 0-1), San Jose St. 5-17 (Williams 3-7, Kellogg 2-2, Parker 0-6, A'Giza 0-1, Andrews 0-1). Personal fouls--Hawaii 11, San Jose St. 18 Technical fouls--none. Steals--Hawaii 6 (Gabrielova, Allen, Greeny, Willoughby, Abele, Wagner), San Jose St. 11 (Williams 4, C. Smith 2, Ta. Taylor 2, Parker, Kellogg, Te. Taylor). Blocked shots--Hawaii 4 (Roper 3, Willoughby), San Jose St. 2 (Ta. Taylor, Parker). Turnovers--Hawaii 21, San Jose St. 14. Officials--Larson, Castle, Wells. A--522.
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