HOUSTON >> The victory drought at Autry Court on the Rice campus continues for Hawaii. UH can’t solve Autry,
as Rice wins againFrom staff and wire services
The Rainbow Wahine basketball team played its usual tough defensive game although the women did not have an answer for Rice guard Lindsey Maynard's offense during the final 2:52 of action, when the Owls pulled away from a 48-48 tie for a 54-50 victory.
Maynard, playing with four fouls, broke the tie with a layup at 2:23, then sank one of two free throws after being fouled by Jade Abele at 2:03 for a 51-48 Rice lead.
Christen Roper's right-handed hook pulled UH (11-6, 5-3 WAC) within one at 51-50 with 1:38 to play, but that was the end for the visitors offensively.
Maynard's 3-pointer from the corner with just a couple of ticks left on the shot clock and 25 seconds on the game clock, sealed the victory for the Owls (7-10, 4-4), who have defeated Hawaii in all five games here.
The Rice defense also played well, holding UH to its second-lowest point output of the season. In that final 2:52 the Wahine were 1-for-4 from the field, did not get a second shot after a miss and were forced to rush attempts as the shot clock wound down.
"They defended really well down the stretch. We were looking to go inside, go against their big people," said UH coach Vince Goo. "We had 15 turnovers and some of those came at the end and were not good turnovers. That's because we didn't make good decisions in our passing."
The Owls started the game by making just one of 13 field-goal attempts and only four of 19 in the first 12:25. Hawaii took partial advantage by building 10-2 and 18-8 leads. However, during that time, Rice's 6-foot-4 center Johnetta Hayes blocked four UH shots and Elisa Inman stuffed another to help the Owls stay within striking distance.
UH's 6-5 center Christen Roper picked up her first foul at 16:13 and was benched for several minutes because she was rushing her shots, all layups that did not go down.
Fortunately for the Wahine, Kim Willoughby came in to score six consecutive points, but Rice outscored UH 16-7 heading to intermission and trailed by a point (25-24) at the half.
"We did not click well offensively early in the game. We didn't shoot very well, missed some drives to the basket and did not shoot well from beyond the arc," said Goo.
Yet, the Wahine controlled the tempo of the game, allowing the Owls just one fast-break basket the whole game.
Hawaii held one four-point lead in the second half when Abele sank a 3-pointer with a little more than nine minutes to play, but the half was marked by six lead changes, as neither team could take command until Maynard did her thing,
"We played well enough to win the game. We could have won the game at the free-throw line (16 of 23). We did a good job of getting the ball to the people we wanted to, but we have no excuses," said Goo.
Roper and Natasja Allen scored 10 points apiece as did Maynard and freshman guard Rosyland Jeffries, making her first start for the Owls.
Hawaii plays at Tulsa tomorrow. The Golden Hurricane pummeled San Jose State last night 89-52.
WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. W L Louisiana Tech 8 0 1.000 15 2 Tulsa 6 2 .750 11 8 Hawaii 5 3 .625 11 7 SMU 5 3 .625 11 7 San Jose St. 4 4 .500 8 9 UTEP 4 4 .500 9 9 Rice 4 4 .500 7 10 Fresno St. 3 5 .375 9 9 Boise St. 1 7 .125 4 14 Nevada 0 8 .000 7 11
Yesterday
Rice 54, Hawaii 50
Tulsa 89, San Jose St. 52
Louisiana Tech 102, Boise St. 66
UTEP 71, SMU 69
Rice 54, Hawaii 50
RAINBOW WAHINE (11-6, 5-3)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 2 7 3 5 34 3 6 9 Allen 3 8 4 6 29 3 0 10 Roper 5 11 0 0 18 4 0 10 Gabriel 1 3 0 0 37 5 3 2 Atuaia 2 5 5 6 33 2 1 9 Willoughby 3 6 2 4 30 10 0 8 Macfarlane 0 2 0 0 6 2 2 0 Jones 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Sanders 0 3 2 2 10 0 0 2 Spooner 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 Totals 16 46 16 23 200 34 12 50
LADY OWLS (7-10, 4-4 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Inman 3 11 0 0 24 7 1 6 Hayes 3 10 0 0 29 11 0 6 Maynard 3 7 3 4 24 1 2 10 Lawson 3 5 2 2 31 4 4 9 Jeffries 4 8 1 1 27 3 2 10 Peck 1 1 0 0 5 0 0 2 Beckler 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 Woods 1 3 0 0 17 2 3 2 Liggett 1 4 0 0 11 0 2 2 Elder 0 2 0 0 9 1 2 0 James 0 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 Cunningham 2 3 0 0 11 4 1 5 Florus 1 1 0 0 5 0 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 22 58 6 7 200 35 17 54
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 25, Rice 24
3-point goals -- Rice4-9 (Cunningham 1-1, Maynard 1-2, Lawson 1-2, Jeffries 1-2, Beckler 0-1, Liggett 0-1), Hawaii 2-9 (Abele 2-6, Gabriel 0-1, Macfarlane 0-1, Sanders 0-1). Personal fouls -- Rice 19, Hawaii 12. Technical fouls -- none. Steals -- Rice 9 (Inman 2, Woods 2, Liggett 2, Hayes, Lawson, Jeffries), Hawaii 9 (Abele 4, Roper 2, Willoughby 2, Gabriel). Blocked shots -- Rice 10 (Hayes 7, Inman, Woods, Florus), Hawaii 3 (Allen, Roper, Willoughby). Turnovers -- Rice 13, Hawaii 15. Officials -- Jack Jones, Ron Harris, Darcy Schlabach. A -- 341.
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