DALLAS >> The Hawaii women's basketball team began its first road trip of the season on a sour note, losing to Southern Methodist 66-56 at Moody Coliseum before 758 fans. SMU hands Wahine first
WAC loss of the seasonFrom staff and wire services
The Rainbow Wahine experienced cold-shooting spells at the end of each half that allowed the Lady Mustangs to take a lead at intermission, then pull out the victory in the final three minutes. The Wahine have yet to win a game this season when they trailed at the half.
SMU closed the first half with a 14-4 run over the final 7:29 that coincided with UH center Christen Roper going to the bench with two fouls with 6:27 remaining before the half.
"That took a lot away from our offense," Hawaii coach Vince Goo said. "Christen was doing a great job on offense, doing a good job on the boards and defending really well up to that point."
With the 6-foot-5 Roper on the floor, SMU's 6-4 center Kaci Alexander scored just one basket and two foul shots for four points. Alexander scored five of SMU's 14 points in the sprint to halftime.
The Lady Mustangs (7-5, 1-1 Western Athletic Conference) started fast in the second half as Shanta Ramdhanny scored nine of the first 11 as SMU built a 38-31 lead.
The Wahine (8-4, 2-1) -- behind Jade Abele, who led UH with 15 points, and Roper, who had 13 -- responded to retake the lead, 53-51, with 4:10 left in the game.
However, April Atuaia's 3-pointer with 30 seconds left was all the Wahine could muster before the final horn. Meanwhile, SMU scored 15 points, with Andrea Cossey accounting for seven.
In the two scoring droughts at the end of each half that lasted a combined 11:39, Hawaii scored seven points.
"We went 1-for-9 in the final four minutes of the game and you don't win often when you do that," Goo said. "We were getting very good shots off our execution. It was exactly what we wanted to do, but the shots didn't fall.
"We didn't box out well at their offensive end in the first half. They got nine offensive rebounds (resulting in) eight points. They got no offensive rebounds in the second half."
Other than Abele, the Wahine got little offense from the perimeter, something they will need the rest of the season as opponents double- and triple-team Roper.
Hawaii plays at No. 12 Louisiana Tech tomorrow. The Lady Techsters smashed San Jose State last night 83-38.
Tomorrow's game will be televised on Fox Sports West 2 and broadcast on 1420-AM with tipoff at 4 p.m. HST.
WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. W L Louisiana Tech 2 0 1.000 9 2 Tulsa 2 0 1.000 7 6 Hawaii 2 1 .667 8 4 San Jose St. 2 1 .667 6 6 Fresno St. 2 1 .667 8 5 Rice 1 1 .500 4 7 SMU 1 1 .500 7 5 UTEP 1 2 .333 6 7 Nevada 0 3 .000 7 6 Boise St. 0 3 .000 3 10
Yesterday
SMU 66, Hawaii 56
Louisiana Tech 83, San Jose St. 38
Fresno St. 63, Boise St. 56
UTEP 63, Nevada 55
Tomorrow
Nevada at Boise St.
Hawaii at Louisiana Tech
Fresno St. at UTEP
San Jose St. at SMU
Rice at Tulsa
SMU 66, Hawaii 56
WAHINE (8-4, 2-1) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 6 17 0 0 36 4 6 15 Roper 6 12 1 3 29 9 1 13 Gabriel 2 5 1 1 38 3 3 6 Atuaia 2 8 0 0 31 3 2 5 Allen 3 10 0 0 19 3 0 6 Spooner 0 1 0 0 4 1 1 0 Willoughby 4 10 3 3 28 8 2 11 Macfarlane 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Sanders 0 3 0 0 13 3 1 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 Totals 23 66 5 7 200 40 16 56
MUSTANGS (7-5, 1-1)fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Krouch 2 2 0 0 32 9 4 4 Wright 1 3 0 0 12 2 1 2 Ramdhanny 6 10 3 4 34 4 2 17 Alexander 5 13 2 3 34 9 3 12 Cossey 6 13 2 2 34 3 3 17 Shead 0 1 0 0 8 0 0 0 Cruse 0 0 4 4 1 1 0 4 Roberts 2 8 0 0 17 3 1 4 Davis 1 7 0 0 16 6 1 2 Patton 2 2 0 0 12 2 0 4 Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 25 59 11 13 200 39 15 66
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 -- SMU 27, Hawaii 24.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 5-17 (Abele 3-10, Gabriel 1-3, Atuaia 1-3, Sanders 0-1), SMU 5-12 (Cossey 3-7, Ramdhanny 2-3, Davis 0-2). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 15, SMU 12. Technical fouls -- None. Steals -- Hawaii 3 (Roper, Gabriel, Atuaia); SMU 6 (Krouch 2, Ramdhanny, Alexander, Cossey, Patton). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 4 (Allen 2, Roper, Willoughby); SMU 6 (Davis 3, Krouch, Alexander, Cossey). Turnovers -- Hawaii 12 (Abele 2, Roper 2, Gabriel 2, Allen 2, Willoughby 2, Macfarlane, Atuaia); SMU 9 (Alexander 3, Cossey 3, Ramdhanny, Roberts, Davis). Officials -- Weeks, Larson, Gulbeyan. A -- 758.
UH Athletics
