DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's April Atuaia drove for a basket last night against Fresno State's Chanie Sutherland. UH won 64-43.
Hawaii turned a 40-minute defensive effort into a 64-43 Western Athletic Conference victory over Fresno State last night in front of 611 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center. Wahine win with defense
Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comThe Rainbow Wahine (10-5, 4-2) held the Bulldogs to 26 percent (17-for-65) shooting from the floor. At the same time, Hawaii was making 49 percent (24-for-49) of its field goal attempts.
UH has held opponents to less than 50 percent from the field in 84 of the last 85 games, and last night's effort makes it 46 consecutive games below that mark. The best job was done on FSU's second leading scorer, point guard Lindsay Logan, who averages 11.9 points per game, but scored five last night.
The Wahine also put the clamps on Omelogo Udeze, the Bulldogs' top scorer, in the first half (two points), and she didn't get going until UH had a double-digit lead midway through the second half. She finished with 13.
"Christen Roper did a good job of keeping her feet (and not fouling) and that probably bothered Udeze," UH coach Vince Goo said. "They rebounded really hard. That probably was the only thing we could have done better tonight, but it's tough to keep an athletic team off the boards."
Said Jade Abele: "It was very physical, not the usual bump and grind, but a lot of hands. They chased down everything."
After Udeze opened the second half with a basket to cut UH's lead to six points, Hawaii upped the lead to 39-28 on Roper's layup with 14:06 to play and the Bulldogs (9-8, 3-4) never got any closer.
"The second half we got to run our patterns better," UH point guard Michelle Gabriel said. "We knew they would not give up. They are a fighting team and we've seen them come back in less than two minutes."
April Atuaia, whose 6-for-7 shooting from the field included all three treys, led UH with 17 points. Roper followed with 14 points, nine rebounds and seven of Hawaii's 11 blocked shots, a high for the season.
"I had the same feeling as always coming into the game," Atuaia said. "Making the two 3-pointers early helped the confidence. One was from Michelle and one from Christen and I knew if I didn't make them, they would kill me."
Fresno State came out looking to run on Hawaii, pushing the ball upcourt quickly at every opportunity. The only problem was the Bulldogs had trouble converting layups on fast breaks and were stymied by three early blocked shots.
With the score 11-8 in UH's favor after 6:26 of action, the Wahine put together a 12-3 spurt as Roper and Allen each sank two baskets, Atuaia nailed a trey and Amy Sanders dropped in one of two free throws. That put Hawaii up 23-11 with 7:17 left in the half.
The Bulldogs tried to stop the UH run with a trapping defense just inside the halfway line. The strategy caught the Wahine off guard the first two times, but Hawaii adjusted quickly and FSU called the defense off.
"Everything we saw on film they came out with," Gabriel said.
Said Goo: "We had Milia (Macfarlane) and Amy in there and I thought they handled it very well. We had a lead and they probably were trying to change things a bit."
FSU cut the UH lead to eight points twice, on two free throws by Java Johnson with five minutes to go and just before the halftime buzzer on Veronica Mack's jumper from the foul line. That left Hawaii with a 31-23 advantage at intermission.
The half was a physical confrontation under the boards, with players hitting the hardwood at both ends. Hawaii held a slim 20-18 edge in rebounds at the break.
With 5:46 remaining in the half, UH's Jade Abele and FSU's Aritta Lane, an Aiea graduate, collided at the top of the key. Abele limped off after a few seconds and Lane left after a couple of minutes on the floor. Both returned later.
Hawaii plays Nevada tomorrow night at 7:15.
WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. W L Louisiana Tech 6 0 1.000 13 2 Tulsa 5 1 .833 10 7 Hawaii 4 2 .666 10 5 SMU 4 2 .666 10 6 Rice 3 3 .500 6 9 San Jose St. 3 3 .500 7 8 Fresno St. 3 4 .429 9 8 UTEP 2 4 .333 7 9 Boise St. 1 5 .167 4 12 Nevada 0 7 .000 7 10 Yesterday
Louisiana Tech 75, Tulsa 62
Hawaii 64, Fresno St. 43
SMU 67, Rice 62
San Jose St. 63, Nevada 60
Hawaii 64, Fresno St. 43
Bulldogs (9-8, 3-4)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Johnson 2 5 3 3 26 5 0 8 Sutherland 2 6 0 0 23 1 0 5 Logan 2 11 0 0 33 5 1 5 Garcia 0 2 0 0 12 0 1 0 Mack 1 6 0 0 10 1 1 2 Moore 0 3 1 2 7 1 1 1 Simon 1 4 1 2 26 3 1 3 Udeze 6 19 0 4 33 12 1 13 Probst 0 1 0 0 5 1 1 0 Lane 2 6 0 0 22 6 2 4 Clark 1 2 0 0 3 0 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 17 65 5 11 200 37 9 43 Rainbow Wahine (10-5, 4-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Willoughby 1 3 2 2 18 3 0 4 Abele 3 7 4 6 31 4 6 11 Nishimoto 1 2 0 0 3 1 0 2 Macfarlane 1 2 0 0 9 2 1 3 Roper 7 13 0 0 31 9 3 14 Gabriel 0 1 0 0 28 4 6 0 Sanders 1 5 2 4 16 5 1 4 Atuaia 6 7 2 2 33 8 3 17 Allen 4 8 1 2 30 1 2 9 Spooner 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 24 49 11 16 200 41 22 64 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, Fresno St. 23
3-point goals -- Fresno St.4-17 (Logan 1-5, Sutherland 1-4, Udeze 1-3, Johnson 1-1, Mack 0-3, Garcia 0-1), Hawaii 5-8 (Atuaia 3-3, Abele 1-3, Macfarlane 1-1, Gabriel 0-1). Personal fouls -- Fresno St. 17, Hawaii 10. Technical fouls -- none. Steals -- Fresno St. 5 (Johnson, Moore, Simon, Probst, Lane), Hawaii 7 (Abele 3, Sanders 2, Willoughby, Gabriel). Blocked shots -- Fresno St. 4 (Udeze 2, Lane 2), Hawaii 11 (Roper 7, Willoughby 2, Abele, Allen). Turnovers -- Fresno St. 13, Hawaii 16. Officials -- Debbie Adams, Clarke Stevens, Brian Yamasaki. A -- 1,479.
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