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Hawaii's April Atuaia, who went up for a shot against Gonzaga last month, is working out with the Wahine again after injuring her knee.
The Hawaii women's basketball team took a break from competition the past 12 days after opening the season with five games in nine days. Hawaii working out
the kinksBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com"This was a very good time for us to get people rested and work on some things we needed to improve on," UH coach Vince Goo said. "We also put in some new things."
Taking a break from competition does not mean taking a break from practice. Goo said the sessions this week have been very good. Translation: The players are performing correctly what the coaches ask them to do with a minimum of mistakes.
The Wahine are healthy. Starting guard April Atuaia, who hyperextended her left knee when a North Carolina player fell on it during rebounding action Dec. 1, took last week off. She returned to workouts this week and is ready to go against Kentucky tomorrow night at 7 in the Hawaii Invitational.
The Wildcats (2-3) present some of the same problems North Carolina did. Kentucky has size, led by junior center SeSe Helm, an all-Southeastern Conference second-team selection a year ago. Three more starters return in senior point guard Rita Adams, junior forward Shambrica Jones and sophomore shooting guard Sara Potts.
"The Wildcats have an inside game, they shoot 3-pointers and they may be a little quicker than North Carolina," Goo said.
North Carolina's half-court trap bothered the Wahine, so they worked on improving their transition game, modified one of their offensive sets and put in their own version of the full-court press.
Hawaii (3-2) has four games left to fine-tune the offense and defense before opening Western Athletic Conference play next month. Hawaii's two defeats were to nationally ranked teams. The Wahine can't be fooled by Kentucky's record.
The Wildcats won their first two games against Southern Illinois and Pacific, then were trounced by Washington 88-56 in the title game of the Husky Classic before losing tough games to Evansville 70-66 and to in-state rival Western Kentucky 88-83.
The tournament's opening game at 5 tomorrow has former WAC member UNLV playing Long Island.
The Lady Rebels (4-1) were 23-8 a year ago and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Their only loss this year was to UCLA in the championship game of the Lady Rebel Shootout. Constance Jinks was the only UNLV player in double figures, averaging 23.2 points a game.
The Blackbirds were 18-12 last year and also went to the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to UConn. However, they have struggled to an 0-5 start, with three of those defeats by eight points or less. LIU's leading scorer is freshman guard Amber Wirth, who averages 11.4 points per game.
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