FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Natasja Allen went up for a shot against Nevada's Kate Smith and April Bankston during the first half last night.
Wahine sneak The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine won their first game this season in which they trailed at half-time, taking the lead just once, with five seconds left to play.
past the Wolf Pack
WAC Standings
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comSophomore wing Jade Abele, fouled driving to the basket off an inbound play with nine seconds on the clock, calmly sank two free throws on either side of Nevada time-outs to give UH a 58-57 Western Athletic Conference victory over the Wolf Pack before 1,114 screaming fans last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"All I was thinking was, 'please go in' and I was trying to look all calm and collected. My free throw shooting hasn't been all that good the last two or three games," said Abele.
The Wahine (11-5, 5-2 WAC) were down by 12 points at the half and it took them almost 19 minutes to catch up before they won the game in a frenzied finish.
After Abele's free throws, the Wolf Pack (7-11, 0-8) had five seconds to counter. Point guard Laura Ingham took the inbound pass but lost control of the ball twice while streaking up court and did not get a shot off before the final horn.
"Trisha (Nishimoto) had Ingham, was in there for five seconds and did a terrific job," said UH coach Vince Goo. "We wanted to make them dribble up the floor and use up the clock."
The victory moves Hawaii into a second-place tie with Tulsa and Southern Methodist.
Hawaii had two options on the last inbound pass. The first was to Abele cutting to the basket, the other was to Natasja Allen in the corner.
"We saw they were in a soft man defense. We knew we wanted to go to the basket because Nevada did on its last possession and we were called for the foul," said Goo.
At half-time, Goo emphasized two things that contributed to the Wahine woes.
"One was our perimeter people did not play with courage offensively. We had zero baskets. Secondly, the post people did not play with much courage defensively. They (the Wolf Pack) were cleaning us away," Goo said.
Nevada opened the game by hitting several quick baskets as the Hawaii defense struggled to stop the accurate passing visitors who created good looks for their shooters.
The Wolf Pack owned the first seven plus minutes by shredding the UH defense with an effective inside game that saw Smith scoring 10 of Nevada's first 17 points on layups and short jumpers. With 12:45 left in the half, the Wolf Pack had jumped to a 17-6 lead and held Hawaii to 3-for-9 shooting from the field.
The Wahine managed just 31 percent (7-for-22) shooting from the floor while Nevada made 52 percent (15-for-29) of its field-goal attempts.
In the first 10:40 of the second half, Hawaii managed to make a small dent in the Nevada lead, cutting the deficit to 49-41 with 9:20 left in the game. Jade Abele, scoreless in the first half, led the Wahine with 10 points.
Then, with Willoughby scoring six points, April Atuaia contributing a trey and two free throws and Amy Sanders hitting a follow up layup, UH pulled to within one point, 55-54, with a 13-6 run with 3:39 to go.
After Ingham made one free throw, Willoughby tied the score at 56 with an eight-foot jumper in the lane with 1:31 on the clock.
Both teams missed a field-goal attempt before Ingham sank one of two free throws to give UN its last lead, 57-56 with 12 seconds to play.
Notes: The Wahine are 121-39 overall and 56-13 in conference games since moving into the Stan Sheriff Center. ... Hawaii leaves tomorrow for road games at Rice on Thursday and at Tulsa on Saturday.
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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. WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. W L Louisiana Tech 7 0 1.000 14 2 Tulsa 5 2 .714 10 8 Hawaii 5 2 .714 11 6 SMU 5 2 .714 11 6 San Jose St. 4 3 .571 8 8 UTEP 3 4 .429 8 9 Rice 3 4 .429 6 10 Fresno St. 3 5 .375 9 9 Boise St. 1 6 .143 4 13 Nevada 0 8 .000 7 11 Yesterday
SMU 64, Tulsa 61
Louisiana Tech 79, Rice 65
UTEP 85, Boise St. 75
San Jose St. 66, Fresno St. 53
Hawaii 58, Nevada 57
Hawaii 58, Nevada 57
WOLF PACK (7-11, 0-8)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Bankston 8 18 0 2 36 3 0 16 Bastian 2 10 0 0 40 3 3 6 Ingham 3 4 2 5 33 7 9 8 Massey 1 1 0 0 7 0 1 3 Saltmarsh 0 0 0 0 6 2 0 0 Young 3 4 0 0 34 5 3 7 Magee 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 Smith 8 12 0 0 33 5 3 17 Henry 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 25 49 2 7 200 27 19 57 WAHINE (11-5, 5-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Willoughby 5 8 4 4 27 8 1 14 Abele 3 10 5 5 31 1 4 12 Nishimoto 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 Macfarlane 1 1 0 0 4 1 0 2 Roper 6 12 2 3 30 5 1 14 Gabriel 1 4 0 0 36 3 5 2 Sanders 1 2 0 0 13 4 1 2 Atuaia 1 6 2 2 36 2 3 5 Allen 2 9 3 4 23 4 0 7 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 20 52 16 18 200 32 15 58
Halftime -- Nevada 34, Hawaii 22.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 2-9 (Abele 1-4, Atuaia 1-4, Allen 0-1), Nevada 5-12 (Bastian 2-7, Massey 1-1, Young 1-2, Smith 1-2). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 12, Nevada 14. Technical fouls -- none. Steals-- Hawaii 4 (Abele 2, Gabriel 2); Nevada 3 (Bastian, Young, Henry). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 3 (Roper 2, Abele); Nevada 1 (Smith). Turnovers -- Hawaii 9 (Atuaia 3, Willoughby 2, Abele 2, Roper 2); Nevada 10 (Bankston 3, Smith 3, Young 2, Ingham, Massey). Officials -- Adams, Stevens, Apo. A -- 1,114.
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