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Wahine get third TULSA, Okla. >> After cooking Rice in the semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament, the Rainbow Wahine basketball team needs to figure out how to cook a bird in the championship.
shot at LaTech
Hawaii routs Rice and will
play Louisiana Tech, this
time for the WAC titleBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThird-seeded Hawaii plays top-seeded and No. 8-ranked Louisiana Tech in today's Western Athletic Conference championship game at 9 a.m. Hawaii time.
Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore said today's championship would be a battle pitting the top two defensive teams in the conference. Tech's defense has been its bread and butter all year and the play of Ayana "Bird" Walker has been central to its success.
The WAC Player of the Year played a key role in Louisiana Tech's 57-42 semifinal win against Tulsa. She led the team in rebounding (11) and was second in scoring (nine points), but it was her defensive effort that was critical. Walker held Tulsa's Leela Farr, a first-team all WAC selection, to just 1-for-11 shooting in yesterday's semifinal.
Tech (24-4, 17-1) is a lock for the NCAAs. The Rainbow Wahine (23-6, 14-4) still need to play well in the championship game, but they're not feeling any pressure. Hawaii has already accomplished what it set out to do.
"We were in the championship game last year," Hawaii coach Vince Goo said. "They've got the pressure. We're going to go in relaxed and try to have some fun.
"Hopefully, we can stop them. They have a lot of firepower on the offensive end. (The keys to this game) are ... aggressiveness on the offensive boards. Defensively we need to box out. They've beaten us twice. Rice had beaten us twice. (But Louisiana Tech) has shown not to play well at times."
The Wahine are hoping to catch the Lady Techsters on an off day. Hawaii caught Rice and had fun beating the Owls on the third try.
"(Rice) beat us two times and we weren't scared to go play them a third time," Wahine point guard Janka Gabrielova said. "And this time we were ready for them.
"Defense is very important for today. I still can't believe we beat Rice. We just have to come play like yesterday. We know we are a good team."
A good team that surprised Barmore somewhat.
"I'm not surprised they won, but I'm certainly surprised they won with that margin," Barmore said. "It certainly gives them a lot of confidence. It should be a good fight.
"They've got some size. It's not a team we're just going to go out there and dominate with our size. They have two or three kids with some size. Their ball handlers at the point handle the ball well. We may not make them turn it over a lot. It's going to be a good matchup inside and they're a very good defensive team. They've given up very few points."
Since yielding 83 points to the Lady Techsters on Feb. 7, the Wahine have shut down their opponents. They have allowed an average of 48.7 points over their last nine games. Hawaii set a record for fewest points allowed in a tournament game yesterday by holding Rice to 36 points. But Hawaii's offense hadn't scored much in the same period, averaging only 59.3 points per game.
For the Wahine, staying out of foul trouble is essential. In the two previous conference meetings, 6-foot-5 center Christen Roper picked up two fouls early in the first half. The Lady Techsters took advantage of Roper's absence both times to build large leads.
No. 8 Louisiana Tech 57, Tulsa 42: Brooke Lassiter scored 14 points, including eight free throws in the final two minutes, as the Lady Techsters advanced to the WAC tournament final.
Top-seeded Louisiana Tech (24-4), winner of 22 of its last 23 games, won its 19th consecutive game in conference tournaments. The Lady Techsters won six straight Sun Belt Conference titles before moving to the WAC this season.
Tulsa (17-13) lost for the fifth time in seven games.
Louisiana Tech led the entire second half, but didn't get a comfortable lead until hitting 11 of 12 free throws in the final 1:40.
At Tulsa, Okla. WAC TOURNAMENT
YESTERDAY
No. 3 Hawaii 59, No. 2 Rice 36
No. 1 Louisiana Tech 57, No. 5 Tulsa 42TODAY (HAWAII TIME)
Louisiana Tech vs. Hawaii, 9 a.m. (Fox Sports West)
Hawaii 59, Rice 36
OWLS (21-8, 14-4 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Inman 0 2 1 2 22 4 2 1 McIntosh 2 6 1 1 26 4 0 5 Maynard 0 6 4 4 21 4 1 4 Lawson 0 3 0 0 27 1 0 0 Liggett 3 12 0 0 21 0 0 6 Singleton 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Rigg 1 4 2 2 15 4 0 4 Beckler 0 5 0 0 15 1 1 0 Brown 0 2 0 0 5 0 0 0 Woods 1 2 0 0 13 2 1 2 Sam 0 3 0 0 8 3 0 0 James 0 3 0 0 8 1 1 0 Hayes 6 12 1 1 18 10 0 14 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 13 60 9 10 200 36 6 36 WAHINE (23-6, 14-4 WAC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Allen 3 8 1 4 24 3 0 7 Wagner 4 7 0 0 28 7 1 9 Roper 4 9 2 2 20 6 1 10 Gabrielova 2 8 6 6 27 5 4 11 Greeny 4 7 3 4 32 8 1 12 Willoughby 2 8 0 0 18 6 0 4 Abele 1 3 0 0 17 1 1 2 Macfarlane 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Brossman 1 4 2 2 19 4 0 4 Gabriel 0 0 0 0 13 1 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 Totals 21 54 14 18 200 47 8 59 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, Rice 21
3-point goals -- Hawaii3-10 (Gabrielova 1-3, Wagner 1-2, Greeny 1-3, Brossman 0-1, Abele 0-1), Rice 1-18 (Hayes 1-1, Maynard 0-4, Liggett 0-4, Brown 0-4, Rigg 0-2, Woods 0-2, James 0-1). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 12, Rice 14. Technical fouls -- Rice 1 (Inman). Steals -- Hawaii 7 (Gabrielova 4, Wagner, Greeny, Willoughby), Rice 3 (McIntosh, Liggett, James). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 2 (Macfarlane, Brossman), Rice 7 (Hayes 3, McIntosh 2, Inman, Rigg). Turnovers -- Hawaii 15, Rice 16. Officials -- Yarbarouh, Ortega, Hermann. T -- NA. A -- NA.
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