DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Natasja Allen was blocked by Louisiana Tech's Amber Obaze last night.
Ninth-ranked Louisiana Tech doubled Hawaii's offensive output in the second half and rolled to a 67-44 Western Athletic Conference victory before 802 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center last night. Wahine wake up
Lady TechstersBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comThe Lady Techsters pressured the UH point guards, either Michelle Gabriel or Milia Macfarlane, the second they received the inbound pass. This was the same strategy they used at home. It did cut down on the time the Rainbow Wahine had on the shot clock, but Gabriel found other problems.
"I don't think that was the problem," Gabriel said. "As soon as we got it past halfcourt, they were playing right on the line and denying our passes to the wing. They also did a good job of pressuring in the backcourt.
"So many times I saw the pass, but the girl (guarding her) was right on me and you have to respect their quickness."
Despite leading by just three points at intermission, LaTech coach Kurt Budke said, "We got into some foul trouble, but got some key minutes out of some people who hadn't played much, so we were happy at halftime. We thought we could turn the heat up in the second half if we could stay out of foul trouble. I was very proud of our players in the second half. It was probably the best half we played all year."
UH coach Vince Goo did not sense any momentum swing in the Wahine favor at halftime. Louisiana Tech outscored Hawaii 39-19 in the second half.
"We got back in the game because we stopped turning the ball over, but we weren't playing that well," said Goo. "They had (Cheryl) Ford on the bench and we had (Christen) Roper on the bench.
"The difference between the halves was we shot 14 free throws and they shot four in the first half and we shot five and they shot 14 in the second half. We turned the ball over 14 times in the second half and a lot of that was due to their pressure. And, they got rebounds and putbacks and it became a very physical game, an extremely physical game."
Ford, held to two first-half points, finished with a game-high 17 while teammate Amber Obaze had 15.
Kim Willoughby turned in a double-double for UH with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
The first 5:46 of action had UH turning the ball over six times and Louisiana Tech four including three consecutive trips down the floor following Ford's opening basket. The only time the Wahine took advantage was on April Atuaia's 3-pointer for a brief lead.
Trina Frierson put LaTech ahead with 15:50 to play and Obaze followed with two layups off steals. Following the first media timeout, Tasha Crain and Erica Smith completed a 12-0 run to give the Lady Techsters a 14-3 lead at the 11:57 mark.
Willoughby ended the run with a layup and successful free throw at 11:40 to make the score 14-6 in favor of the Lady Techsters.
Using a matchup zone, Hawaii (11-8, 5-5 WAC) had decent success in keeping Louisiana Tech from scoring on layups, forcing shots from the perimeter off pull-up jumpers.
The two centers, UH's Roper and LaTech's Ford, went to the bench with two fouls at the 9:02 and 7:47 marks, respectively.
The Wahine outscored the Lady Techsters 19-14 the rest of the half to trailed by three points (28-25) at the break. Hawaii only converted on seven of 24 field-goal attempts, but sank 10 of 14 free throws to offset Louisiana Tech's 11-for-31 effort from the field in the opening half.
UH pulled to within two points twice early in the second half, then Ford scored nine of the Lady Techsters' next 10 points as LaTech eased out to a 41-34 lead with 11:41 left in the game. Over the next 4:23, the Lady Techsters scored seven unanswered points to forge ahead by 14 (48-34).
The teams traded baskets over the next three-and-a-half minutes, but with 3:31 to play and the Lady Techsters up by 15 points, time was running out on Hawaii.
The Lady Techsters (18-2, 10-0) closed with a 10-2 run, putting an exclamation point on their 16th consecutive win.
WAC standings
WAC
gamesOverall W L Pct. W L Louisiana Tech 10 0 1.000 18 2 Tulsa 7 2 .636 12 8 SMU 6 4 .600 12 8 Rice 5 4 .556 8 10 Hawaii 5 5 .500 11 8 Fresno St. 5 5 .500 11 9 UTEP 4 6 .400 9 11 San Jose St. 4 6 .400 8 11 Boise St. 3 7 .300 6 14 Nevada 0 10 .000 7 13
Yesterday
SMU 61, San Jose St. 58
Boise St. 68, Nevada 63
Fresno St. 64, UTEP 39
Louisiana Tech 67, Hawaii 44
Louisiana Tech 67, Hawaii 44
LADY TECHSTERS (18-2, 10-0 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Smith 5 11 1 1 29 3 3 13 Crain 1 2 0 0 22 3 1 3 Ray 3 6 2 2 13 1 0 9 Clay 0 2 2 2 18 4 1 2 Carter 0 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 Ford 7 12 3 3 32 7 0 17 Obaze 5 11 5 6 38 5 5 15 Harding 0 3 0 0 8 2 1 0 Frierson 3 11 2 4 35 9 2 8 Team 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 24 59 15 18 200 38 13 67
RAINBOW WAHINE (11-8, 5-5 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Willoughby 4 10 8 9 35 12 0 16 Abele 1 4 1 2 34 3 3 4 Nishimoto 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Macfarlane 0 0 0 0 9 0 3 0 Roper 2 6 2 2 15 4 0 6 Gabriel 0 4 0 0 31 2 1 0 Sanders 1 2 0 1 17 0 2 2 Atuaia 2 7 2 2 26 2 1 7 Allen 4 11 1 3 32 5 3 9 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 14 44 14 19 200 31 13 44
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 -- Louisiana Tech 28, Hawaii 25.
3-point goals -- Louisiana Tech 4-11 (Smith 2-5, Crain 1-2, Ray 1-3, Obaze 0-1), Hawaii 2-3 (Atuaia 1-1, Abele 1-2). Personal fouls -- Louisiana Tech 17, Hawaii 14. Technical fouls -- none. Steals -- Louisiana Tech 9 (Ford 3, Frierson 2, Smith 2, Clay, Obaze), Hawaii 7 (Gabriel 2, Willoughby, Abele, Roper, Atuaia, Allen). Blocked shots -- Louisiana Tech 5 (Ford 2, Crain, Harding Frierson), Hawaii 3 (Roper 2, Willoughby). Turnovers -- Louisiana Tech 16, Hawaii 24. Officials -- Scotty Hermann, Melissa Barlow, Donovan Lewis. A -- 802.
UH Athletics
