DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's April Atuaia was held to one point and five rebounds in the Rainbow Wahine's loss to No. 9 Texas Tech yesterday.
The Rainbow Wahine basketball team will NOT have an upset of a nationally ranked team in their Christmas stocking this year. Tech drubs Hawaii by 27
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comThe No. 9 Texas Tech Lady Raiders lived up to their nickname with a raid at both ends of the court that produced an emphatic 67-40 victory in the championship game of the Ala Moana Hotels Paradise Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center yesterday.
It was the worst defeat of the season for the Wahine (6-3), who were held to a season-low 22 percent shooting from the field. Hawaii sank just 11 of 50 field-goal attempts and only four went down in the opening half.
"A lot of that had to do with their defense. We had our chances to take them on one-on-one, but they play very good team defense. They came across and helped," said UH coach Vince Goo.
The Wahine battled through a frustrating first half in which they generated very little offense and were unable to defend a variety of jump shots put up by the Lady Raiders in and around the key.
Hawaii did not score its first field goal until Natasja Allen slipped a layup in with 14:04 left. The second field goal came with 9:49 to play on a layup by Christen Roper. It wasn't until 2:39 showed on the clock that Jade Abele made UH's next basket and the last one came with 1:29 remaining before the half on Penny Jones' putback. Surrounding those four baskets were 17 misses compounded by nine turnovers.
The Lady Raiders also took a few minutes to get warm offensively, but once they did, they outscored Hawaii 27-12 over the final 14 minutes of the opening half. Much of the damage came on those jump shots as the Lady Raiders were consistently adept at finding the open teammate.
"We knew they would do that. We knew they were good at it. They ran some good motion and they ran some good picks up on top. With the picks they were coming off, if we go over the top they are going to beat us to the basket with penetration, so we came under and wanted to do a better job getting up and contesting the shot, but they are real good with pull-up jumpers."
Hawaii even had trouble at the free throw line, sinking 61 percent vs. its season mark of 71 percent.
Even when the Wahine demonstrated a little bit of efficiency with the offense in the second half, Texas Tech seemed to score three baskets for every two Hawaii made. With 11:02 to play, a fast-break layup by Miklannet Tennal upped Tech's total to 52 points, double what Hawaii had on the scoreboard at that moment.
"This was the most complete 40 minutes we have played this year," Tech coach Marsha Sharp said. "We had a lot of respect for Hawaii because we knew they had played some good basketball teams. We knew we would be in a battle if we didn't play well."
Plenette Pierson and Jia Perkins led Tech's balanced scoring attack with 16 and 14 points, respectively.
Roper, despite being double- and tripled-teamed all game, was the only Wahine in double figures with 13 points. She also had a career-high and school-record eight blocked shots.
The Wahine get a short Christmas break before returning to practice Friday to prepare for the Western Athletic Conference opener against Texas-El Paso here Jan. 2.
Tennessee-Chattanooga 59, Loyola Marymount 52: The Lady Mocs (7-2) rallied with a 40-point second half to claim the third-place trophy. Heather McDivitt and Jennifer Wilson, who had two points between them at halftime, combined for 23 in the second half to spark the Mocs.
The Lions (6-3) were led by Adrianne Slaughter's 12 points. Miranda Warfield paced the Mocs with 16 points.
Texas Tech 67, Hawaii 40
LADY RAIDERS (7-1)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Petree 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Dabbs 2 2 0 0 9 2 0 4 Tennal 2 6 0 0 15 1 1 4 Grant 1 4 0 0 25 4 4 2 Perkins 6 16 2 2 25 4 6 14 Ritchie 3 6 0 0 22 3 2 7 Greenwalt 1 1 0 0 12 1 0 2 Jackson 3 9 0 2 23 8 3 6 Ayers 2 4 0 0 23 8 4 4 Clark 3 6 2 3 14 6 0 8 Davis 0 3 0 0 17 6 0 0 Pierson 8 12 0 0 14 4 0 16 Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 31 69 4 7 200 47 20 67 RAINBOW WAHINE (6-3)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 1 9 3 4 33 3 2 5 Nishimoto 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Macfarlane 2 6 1 2 18 0 0 7 Roper 3 12 7 9 36 9 0 13 Jones 1 3 0 1 11 3 0 2 Gabriel 0 0 0 0 20 2 0 0 Sanders 0 5 1 2 19 1 2 1 Atuaia 0 5 1 2 26 5 0 1 Allen 3 9 3 6 29 6 0 9 Spooner 1 0 0 0 4 2 0 2 Aiwohi 0 4 0 0 2 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 11 50 16 26 200 35 4 40 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 -- Texas Tech 33, Hawaii 17
3-point goals -- Texas Tech 1-6 (Ritchie 1-4, Tennal 0-2), Hawaii 2-8 (Macfarlane 2-4, Abele 0-2, Sanders 0-1, Atuaia 0-1). Personal fouls -- Texas Tech 20, Hawaii 8. Technical fouls -- none. Steals -- Texas Tech 6 (Clark 2, Grant, Jackson, Davis, Pierson), Hawaii 4 (Gabriel, Bell, Allen, Roper). Blocked shots -- Texas Tech 8 (Greenwalt 4, Ayers 2, Ritchie, Pierson), Hawaii 9 (Roper 8, Macfarlane). Turnovers -- Texas Tech 6, Hawaii 13. Officials -- Ryan Wells, Donovan Lewis, Todd Apo. Tickets issued -- 1,543. Att -- 616.
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP -- Plenette Pierson, Texas Tech.
Adrianne Slaughter, Loyola Marymount; Jennifer Wilson, Chattanooga; Jade Abele, Hawaii; Christen Roper, Hawaii; Jia Perkins, Texas Tech.
UH Athletics
