ASSOCIATED PRESS
Louisiana Tech's Cheryl Ford, left, tries to knock the ball away from Hawaii's Christen Roper during the first half yesterday. Roper missed 15 minutes during the half due to foul trouble.
RUSTON, La. >> Digging out of a 20-point hole with a little over 12 minutes to play is difficult. It is next to impossible when the opponent is No. 12 Louisiana Tech and you're playing on the Lady Techsters' floor. Techsters thwart
Wahine comeback
Game stats
From staff and wire reports
The Hawaii women's basketball team refused to fold in that situation last night, rallying to cut the deficit to 53-48 with 3:47 to play, but could not overcome the efforts of Cheryl Ford and Amber Obaze.
Louisiana Tech won the Western Athletic Conference encounter 60-52.
Hawaii coach Vince Goo felt the difference in the game was the turnovers. Both teams had 16, but Goo questioned several of the UH turnovers.
"I'm not positive, but I think six of our turnovers were travels. Our kids made some really good moves that were called travels," Goo said.
A big one was called after the Rainbow Wahine (8-5, 2-2 WAC) had used a Jade Abele basket, two free throws by April Atuaia and a bucket by Natasja Allen to reach that five-point deficit late in the game. After making a defensive stop, the Wahine had a chance to pull even closer.
"They (the refs) call a travel on Natasja and Louisiana Tech comes down and scores, and that was pivotal," said Goo.
Ford put the ball in the hoop and Obaze, who led the Lady Techsters (10-2, 3-0) with 18 points, hit a jumper. UH never got closer than seven points after that.
Hawaii trailed by 11 points, 33-22, at the half despite not having Christen Roper, saddled with two fouls, for 15 minutes.
Louisiana Tech started the second half with a 14-5 spurt and threatened to make the game a blowout.
"In the last 10 minutes, I thought Louisiana Tech was hesitant on offense, unsure of what they wanted to do," said Goo. "We were doing what we wanted to do, attacking. We never stopped coming after them and I think this has to be one of the more courageous efforts we have had in a long time, to come back against a team like that at their place.
"I didn't know if we would win or lose tonight, but our performance was good, very good and that was decided in practice Friday. The younger players on our scout team, who don't get much playing time, really challenged those who were going to start.
"Trisha Nishimoto pressured our two point guards and they handled Louisiana Tech's pressure very well. We had zero turnovers in the backcourt.
"Overall, we're really proud of the kids. We battled. I felt it was going to be our toughest trip because of who we played. The players see the difference between tonight and two nights ago. They have a better idea of what it takes to be prepared."
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Key -- fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points. Louisiana Tech 60, Hawaii 52
RAINBOW WAHINE (8-5, 2-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 7 12 3 3 31 5 0 19 Allen 2 7 4 4 31 3 0 8 Roper 1 8 0 0 16 3 1 2 Gabriel 2 5 0 0 36 2 2 6 Atuaia 3 5 2 2 25 3 0 8 Willoughby 3 9 1 3 28 6 0 7 Macfarlane 1 2 0 0 11 1 0 2 Sanders 0 3 0 0 18 1 0 0 Spooner 0 1 0 0 4 1 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 19 52 10 12 200 28 3 52 LADY TECHSTERS (10-2, 3-0)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Frierson 4 13 0 0 34 13 1 8 Ford 7 18 3 4 36 14 2 17 Smith 2 8 3 4 32 5 4 8 Clay 0 0 0 0 30 2 4 0 Obaze 9 13 0 1 37 4 2 18 Crain 1 1 0 0 10 0 0 2 Ray 1 3 0 0 7 1 0 3 George 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 Carter 1 3 2 2 10 1 0 4 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 25 60 8 11 200 43 13 60
Halftime -- Louisiana Tech 33, Hawaii 22
3-point goals -- Hawaii 4-12 (Abele 2-6, Gabriel 2-3, Atuaia 0-2, Macfarlane 0-1), Louisiana Tech 2-4 (Smith 1-2, Ray 1-2). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 12, Louisiana Tech 16. Technical fouls -- none. Steals -- Hawaii 6 (Gabriel 3, Abele, Allen, Willoughby), Louisiana Tech 6 (Smith 2, Clay 2, Obaze 2). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 10 (Roper 6, Allen 2, Abele 2), Louisiana Tech 2 (Ford 2). Turnovers -- Hawaii 16, Louisiana Tech 16. Officials -- Peter Conteras, Glen Dixon, Park Van Nest. A -- 4,233.
WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. W L Louisiana Tech 3 0 1.000 10 2 Tulsa 3 0 1.000 8 6 SMU 2 1 .666 8 5 Hawaii 2 2 .500 8 5 Fresno St. 2 2 .500 8 6 UTEP 2 2 .500 7 7 San Jose St. 2 2 .500 6 7 Rice 1 2 .333 4 8 Boise St. 1 3 .250 4 10 Nevada 0 4 .000 7 7
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