Wahine hold on TULSA, Okla.>> Beating a team three times in one season is never easy and the Hawaii basketball team learned that today.
to defeat Wolf Pack
Hawaii ousts Nevada in quarterfinals
of WAC TournamentBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comTough defense from both teams led to the lowest scoring game in Western Athletic Conference tournament history. But the Rainbow Wahine escaped with a 45-41 win over Nevada at Reynolds center. Third-seeded Hawaii eliminated sixth-seeded Nevada (9-19, 6-12) in the first quarterfinal of the day.
The Wahine (22-6, 14-4) face the winner of today's other quarterfinal between Rice and Southern Methodist on Friday at noon (8 a.m. Hawaii time).
"We will take the victory," Hawaii coach Vince Goo said.
"As long as we came out the winners, that's what the stats say. They did a real good job in the first half. They obviously they made some adjustments from the last time we played.
"They pressured our point to wing passes. They pressured our reversal passes from wing to post. They got over the top and tried to deny the ball into the low post a lot more the first two times."
It took two free throws by Karena Greeny at the end to ice the game. She hit both of them with 7.3 seconds left on the clock.
Greeny led Hawaii with 17 points and eight rebounds. Chelsea Wagner added 10 points.
Nevada cut off Hawaii's passing at the top and was effective at denying the ball inside. Natasja Allen and Christen Roper both had only two points in the game.
The Wolf Pack were effective defensively but so were the Wahine. Goo rated the Wahine's performance as excellent.
Wolf Pack coach Ada Gee thought so, too.
"It was a tremendously hard fought game," Gee said. "Obviously an excellent defensive battle when you look at the final score. I'm really proud of my team's effort. Hawaii certainly has an excellent program and a very good team but we were right there. And that's where we were down the stretch. We wanted to have the opportunity to win."
Added Nevada's Katie Golomb:
"We had good looks at the basket and tonight it just didn't fall. We played with a lot of resilience. We didn't give up once. We fought to the bitter end."
A low scoring first half didn't change much in the second.
Roper picked up her third foul in the first 15 seconds of the second half. The Wolf Pack took advantage and scored two quick baskets inside the paint for a 23-22 lead, only its second of the game.
Kate Smith, the Pack's leading scorer, scored her first basket of the game during Roper's absence. Smith was 0-for-4 in the first half.
Chelsea Wagner had back-to-back baskets, including a trey, that gave Hawaii a 27-23 lead. But Nevada hit back-to-back 3-pointers and another basket by Smith to trail by one at 32-31.
Hawaii clung to a precarious one-point lead most of the second half. The Wahine went five minutes without a field goal and their only point during that time came from a free throw by Janka Gabrielova with 5:31 left in the game.
Nevada had a chance to tie the game with 32 seconds left but Roper successfully defended Smith. Two more attempts by the Wolf Pack fell short as well.
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