Sunday, February 10, 2002
[WAHINE BASKETBALL]
DALLAS >> The Rainbow Wahine basketball team completed a solid road trip yesterday by rallying in the second half to defeat Southern Methodist 60-53. Wahine keep pace in
WAC raceFrom staff and wire reports
Hawaii went 3-1 on the trip, losing only to Western Athletic Conference leader Louisiana Tech. The Wahine improved to 16-5 overall and 9-3 in conference.
They are a half-game behind Tulsa and Rice, both winners yesterday and tied for second place at 10-3. Hawaii hosts the Golden Hurricane and the Owls this week.
UH jumped to a quick 6-0 lead yesterday as Janka Gabrielova made two 3-point shots in the first 90 seconds of play.
But, the UH offense then suffered one of its longest scoring droughts of the season, going almost 10 minutes without a basket while the Lady Mustangs ran off 14 points. Karena Greeny broke the spell with a 3-pointer with 9:05 to play in the first half.
Hawaii battled back to tie the game at 20 with Michelle Gabriel running the show at point guard while Gabrielova sat on the bench with two fouls in 13 minutes.
However, SMU's Jackee' Brown and Andrea Cossey drained 3-pointers just before the half to give the Lady Mustangs a 28-22 lead.
Except for that last minute lull, the Hawaii defense was tough all afternoon and the offense responded in the second half.
The first 15 minutes of the second half turned into a back-and-forth trading of baskets with several lead changes and ties.
"We got the offense flowing a lot better in the second half because we got our running game going. That was something we wanted to do," UH coach Vince Goo said.
The next-to-last tie came at 51 with 5:37 to play. UH coach Vince Goo used the media timeout to challenge his players.
"We talked about the long road trip with four games in eight days, the canceled flights, the cold weather, etc.," Goo said. "We said we weren't going to use that as an excuse. We just had to go out and win the last five minutes of the game. We just stayed with our man defense and tried to go inside on offense."
The Rainbow Wahine did just that, holding SMU to one basket the remainder of the game while scoring nine points themselves, including five by Greeny after Chelsea Wagner broke the tie with just under five minutes to go.
"Karena played a solid game at both ends and really took charge down the stretch," Goo said.
Greeny posted a double-double with 10 rebounds and 15 points
Goo also tried something different when Christen Roper picked up her first foul early in the game. He sat the 6-foot-4 center right away to avoid her getting another foul quickly as has happened several times this season.
"We decided to give it a try and it seemed to work. Christen didn't get her second foul until 2:18 was left in the first half," said Goo.
Gabrielova finished with a game-high 18 points, hitting 7 of 10 from the field including 4 of 7 from beyond the arc. Wagner also was in double figures for the fourth consecutive game with 11 points.
UH shot 43 percent from the field after making just three of its first 14 field goal attempts.
WAC STANDINGS
WAC games Overall W L PCT GB W L La. Tech 13 0 1.000 -- 18 3 Rice 10 3 .769 3 16 6 Tulsa 10 3 .769 3 15 8 Hawaii 9 3 .750 312 16 5 San Jose St. 6 6 .500 612 11 10 Nevada 5 7 .417 712 8 13 SMU 4 9 .308 9 9 13 Fresno St. 3 9 .250 912 7 14 Boise St. 2 11 .154 11 6 17 UTEP 1 12 .077 12 3 17 Yesterday
Louisiana Tech 87, San Jose State 47
Rice 72, Boise State 59
Tulsa 84, UTEP 71
Hawaii 60, SMU 53
Nevada 72, Fresno State 54
Wahine (16-5, 9-3) HAWAII 60, SMU 53
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Gabrielova 7 10 0 2 26 4 5 18 Roper 3 8 0 0 25 7 3 6 Allen 1 5 0 0 29 3 0 2 Greeny 5 10 3 4 36 10 1 15 Wagner 3 11 4 6 34 5 1 11 Willoughby 2 5 0 0 26 8 0 4 Macfarlane 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Brossman 1 4 0 0 10 2 1 2 Gabriel 1 1 0 0 13 2 1 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 23 54 7 12 200 42 12 60 Mustangs (9-14, 4-9)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Krouch 0 0 0 0 18 2 3 0 Glover 3 8 2 2 29 9 1 8 Alexander 5 13 0 0 35 12 1 10 Cossey 3 12 0 0 31 5 3 7 Patton 6 16 1 1 30 2 0 15 Cruse 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 Roberts 2 5 2 2 16 3 1 6 Ramdhanny 1 4 0 0 13 0 0 2 Brown 2 5 0 2 25 1 5 5 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 22 63 5 7 200 35 15 53 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, SMU 28.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 7-14 (Gabrielova 4-7, Greeny 2-2, Wagner 1-4, Brossman 0-1), SMU 4-14 (Patton 2-6, Cossey 1-6, Brown 1-2). Personal fouls-- Hawaii 11, SMU 12. Technical fouls--none. Steals-- Hawaii 4 (Roper, Allen, Greeny, Willoughby); SMU 5 (Alexander 2, Krouch, Cossey, Patton). Blocked shots-- Hawaii 3 (Roper, Allen, Greeny); SMU 3 (Grover, Alexander, Patton); Turnovers-- Hawaii 13 (Roper 6, Allen 3, Willoughby 2, Gabrielova, Greeny); SMU 7 (Cossey 4, Ramdhanny, Glover, Alexander). Officials--Strong, Larson, Tillman.
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