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Rainbow Wahine Hawaii played two games last night, one that seemed to lack fire in the first half, and the other more like what one would expect from a basketball team playing at home against the last-place squad in the conference.
reach 20 wins
Hawaii picks up the pace
after a slow first half in a
16-point victory over UTEPBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comThe Rainbow Wahine got their act together, especially on offense, over the final 20 minutes to defeat Texas-El Paso 64-48 and clinch the 11th 20-win season in Vince Goo's 15 years as head coach.
The Western Athletic Conference victory did not come easy. The Miners played inspired ball the first half. They weren't afraid to challenge the taller Rainbow Wahine defenders with penetrating drives to the basket. If they were shut off, the back pass was there. But fortunately for UH, UTEP did not shoot well from 3-point land.
At the same time, the Miners' defense contained the UH inside game, forcing the Wahine to take most of their shots from 15 feet and beyond. When UH was successful getting the ball down low, all too often the layup was missed.
"We played good D in the first half, but we played tentative because one of our emphasis coming in was to make the easy passes on offense to cut down on turnovers," said Goo.
"Christen (Roper) and Natasja (Allen) did a good job of defending their post people, who come out by the arc and are capable of hitting the 3. They are a little quicker and our post people aren't used to playing that far out.
"In the second half, we tried to get some fast breaks going. We did a pretty good job of that. It's because we changed our defense, made them dribble the ball more, which allowed us to get some steals."
The Wahine weathered an early run by UTEP in the second half as Dragana Zoric scored seven consecutive points, cutting Hawaii's lead to 35-29. In the first of two second-half spurts, Hawaii went on an 11-2 run for a 46-29 advantage.
After the Miners (3-23, 1-16) reeled off another seven consecutive points, the Wahine put a 12-4 run together as Kim Willoughby hit two short jumpers to lead the charge. Hawaii led 56-40 with 7:31 to go. The remainder of the game got sloppy. The teams managed just eight points apiece.
Hawaii built two six-point leads in the opening period, but UTEP rallied as halftime approached. Twice, on buckets by Zoric with 3:31 left in the half and by Kimya Murray with 3:01 before intermission, the Miners cut the UH lead to one point, the last time at 22-21.
The Wahine scored the last nine points for a 31-21 halftime lead, the same 10-point margin they had in the win at UTEP earlier this season.
"We did play tentative offensively the first half. We were just trying to force it inside too much. We weren't looking for our shot outside and it wasn't opening up inside," said Karena Greeny.
Greeny led the UH scoring with 11 points. The fifth-year senior pulled down a game-high eight rebounds as the Wahine held a 40-29 advantage in that department.
Willoughby, who converted all six free throws, and Allen scored 10 points apiece.
"I thought some of those turnovers were my fault. I should have posted up better. When I slid down the lane, I couldn't feel them behind me so I thought I was open, but when I turned around, they slapped the ball away from me." said Allen.
Christa Brossman started the nine-point run by hitting a 12-foot jumper from the left side. Willoughby sank both free throws after being fouled as she tried to put her own missed layup back. Jade Abele followed with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc, and with 20 seconds left, Willoughby made two more free throws.
At one point in the first 20 minutes, Goo had all five starters on the bench and went with a smaller lineup for four minutes.
"We have five people who can come off the bench and contribute," said Goo. "It wasn't to prove a point or give the starters a rest, just a chance for them to play."
Hawaii hosts Boise State tomorrow at 7 p.m. It is senior night.
Hawaii 64, UTEP 48
MINERS (3-23, 1-16 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Jimmerson 0 1 0 0 10 0 1 0 Touton 0 3 0 0 19 3 1 0 Massey 2 7 0 0 20 7 0 4 Zoric 5 11 3 4 36 7 1 13 Brown 2 8 3 4 23 0 1 7 Murray 3 7 2 2 38 3 2 9 Guild 0 0 0 0 14 1 2 0 Cole 1 3 0 0 11 1 0 2 DeAnda 5 11 0 3 29 5 0 13 Team 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 Totals 18 51 9 15 200 29 8 48 WAHINE (20-6, 13-4 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Willoughby 2 4 6 6 15 6 0 10 Abele 2 4 0 0 14 4 1 5 Macfarlane 0 0 1 2 8 1 0 1 Gabrielova 1 5 0 0 27 2 9 3 Roper 3 7 1 2 25 2 0 7 Brossman 4 9 0 2 22 1 3 8 Gabriel 0 1 0 0 12 3 0 0 Allen 5 11 0 0 25 6 2 10 Greeny 4 6 2 3 28 8 1 11 Wagner 4 9 0 0 24 4 2 9 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 25 56 10 15 200 40 18 64 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 31, UTEP 21
3-point goals -- Hawaii4-14 (Gabrielova 1-4, Wagner 1-2, Greeny 1-2, Brossman 0-2, Abele 1-3, Gabriel 0-1), UTEP 3-16 (DeAnda 2-7, Murry 1-3, Massey 0-2, Zoric 0-1, Brown 0-2, Cole 0-1). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 15, UTEP 16. Technical fouls -- none. Steals -- Hawaii 6 (Wagner 2, Roper, Brossman, Allen, Greeny), UTEP 5 (Murray 2, Zoric, Brown, DeAnda). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 3 (Willoughby 2, Brossman), UTEP 1 (Cole). Turnovers -- Hawaii 17, UTEP 18. Officials -- Hernandez, Johnson, Apo. T -- 1:39. A -- 733.
Women's WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. GB W L *La. Tech 16 1 .941 -- 21 4 Hawaii 13 4 .765 3 20 6 Rice 13 4 .765 3 19 7 Tulsa 11 6 .647 5 16 11 San Jose St. 11 6 .647 5 16 10 Nevada 6 11 .353 10 9 17 Boise St. 5 12 .294 11 9 18 Fresno St. 4 13 .235 12 9 18 SMU 5 12 .294 11 10 17 UTEP 1 16 .059 15 3 23 *Clinched regular-season title
Yesterday
SMU 58, Nevada 56
San Jose St. 64, Boise St. 53
Hawaii 64, UTEP 48
Louisiana Tech 70, Fresno St. 35
Tomorrow
Fresno State at SMU
Boise State at Hawaii, 7 p.m. HST (KFVE-TV)
Nevada at Louisiana Tech
Tulsa at Rice
UTEP at San Jose State
UH Athletics