RENO, Nev. >> The road continued to haunt the Hawaii women's basketball team last night. Wahine let another
road win get awayFrom staff and wire reports
The Rainbow Wahine replayed a scenario that has become all too familiar to them this season. They could not buy a bucket with less than two minutes to play and failed to close out a game away from home they had every opportunity to win.
The Wolf Pack, last in the Western Athletic Conference standings, scored the last nine points of the game to top Hawaii 75-69. It was the first time Nevada (10-14, 3-11 WAC) defeated the Wahine since 1995, a streak of eight.
Hawaii (12-10, 6-7) has lost its last four games on the mainland by six, four, three and four points.
Last night, April Atuaia hit a 3-pointer with two minutes remaining to give UH a 69-68 lead. But the Wahine never scored again.
Hawaii coach Vince Goo singled out an earlier play that started a slight momentum change for Nevada. UH held a 62-58 lead and the Wolf Pack missed two shots.
But Nevada's Laura Ingham grabbed the third rebound and scored. The refs called Atuaia for a foul on the play and Ingham sank the free throw to cut Nevada's deficit to a point, 62-61.
"April got wiped out," said Goo. "That was her rebound. Instead of us going to the free-throw line, they get a three-point play. That was not a good call."
The Wahine nursed a slim lead until Ashley Bastian tied the score at 66 with a 3-pointer. Atuaia answered with a trey for the Wahine, but Kate Smith pulled the Wolf Pack even at 69 with another 3-pointer with 1:37 to go.
"We were late getting out on defense on both those 3s," said Goo. "Give them credit for knocking them down."
Following a 30-second UH timeout, the Wahine ran a play with Jade Abele driving the baseline for a layup, but the ball would not go down.
Ingham hit a jumper to ease the Wolf Pack ahead 71-69 with 42 seconds left. Atuaia's 3-point attempt was short and the Wahine were forced to foul.
Ingham and Amber Young each made two free throws to close out the win.
"They are a very potent offensive team. They scored 75 points and that's a bunch of points to give up," said Goo. "I think we could have played a little smarter down the stretch."
Kim Willoughby, who scored 13 first-half points to help UH trail 36-35 at the break, finished with a game-high 20 points. Natasja Allen and Michelle Gabriel each contributed 10 points.
Smith led four Nevada players in double figures with 18 points.
The Wahine travel to Fresno State today and play the Bulldogs tomorrow at noon. The Bulldogs scored 96 points last night in defeating visiting San Jose State 96-80.
WAC standings
WAC games Overall W L Pct. W L Louisiana Tech 14 0 1.000 22 2 Tulsa 8 5 .615 13 11 Fresno St. 8 6 .571 14 10 Rice 7 6 .538 10 12 Hawaii 6 7 .461 12 10 SMU 6 8 .429 12 12 UTEP 5 8 .385 10 13 San Jose St. 5 8 .385 9 13 Boise St. 5 8 .385 8 15 Nevada 3 11 .214 10 14 Yesterday
Nevada 75, Hawaii 69
Louisiana Tech 80, Rice 63
Fresno St. 96, San Jose St. 80
Tulsa 61, SMU 50Tomorrow (All times HST)
UTEP at Boise State, 4:00 p.m.
Hawaii at Fresno State, noon
Louisiana Tech at Tulsa, 10 a.m.
San Jose State at Nevada, noon
SMU at Rice, 4:00 p.m.
RAINBOW WAHINE (12-10, 6-7 wac) Nevada 75, Hawaii 69
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 1 9 4 4 25 5 5 7 Roper 3 9 0 2 21 4 1 6 Gabriel 3 6 2 2 33 6 1 10 Atuaia 3 7 0 0 29 3 1 9 Allen 4 9 2 2 36 5 1 10 Willoughby 9 16 2 3 27 5 2 20 Nishimoto 1 3 2 2 12 1 0 5 Macfarlane 0 3 0 0 5 0 0 0 Jones 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Sanders 1 2 0 0 11 0 0 2 Totals 25 64 12 15 200 34 11 69 WOLF PACK (10-14, 3-11 wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Bankston 6 9 3 4 35 9 0 15 Bastian 4 9 0 0 37 4 0 12 Ingham 6 12 5 7 36 8 8 17 Young 1 6 2 2 27 9 1 5 Smith 5 15 7 8 34 5 5 18 Massey 0 2 0 0 4 0 1 0 Saltmarsh 2 3 2 2 17 0 1 6 Lappinga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Magee 1 1 0 0 10 2 0 2 Totals 25 57 19 23 200 42 16 75 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 -- Nevada 36, Hawaii 35.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 7-18 (Atuaia 3-5, Gabriel 2-2, Nishimoto 1-2, Abele 1-5, Sanders 0-1, Macfarlane 0-3); Nevada 6-14 (Bastian 4-7, Young 1-3, Smith 1-3, Massey 0-1).
Personal fouls -- Hawaii 16; Nevada 13.
Technical fouls -- none.
Steals -- Hawaii 5 (Willoughby 2, Abele, Atuaia, Allen); Nevada 4 (Ingham 4).
Blocked shots -- Hawaii 2 (Roper, Willoughby); Nevada 5 (Bankston 4, Smith).
Turnovers -- Hawaii 9; Nevada 12.
Officials -- Eric Larson, Lisa Jones, Peter Conteras. A -- 498.
UH Athletics
