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Hawaii's Jade Abele and Fresno State's Cophie Moore fought over a loose ball during yesterday's game.
FRESNO, Calif. >> Fresno State was playing its last game ever in North Gym and it was senior night for five of the Bulldogs who had never defeated Hawaii. There was no better time to end a long losing streak to UH. Wahine’s road woes
continue in FresnoFrom staff and wire reports
The last time Fresno State beat Hawaii was in 1991. The Wahine had run off 15 consecutive wins since then. That ended yesterday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (15-10, 9-6 WAC) took a quick lead and managed to stay just ahead of the Rainbow Wahine for a 54-51 Western Athletic Conference victory before a near-capacity crowd of 1,401.
Senior guard Laura Garcia, who did not score in FSU's loss at the Stan Sheriff Center earlier this year, scored five points and senior guard Lindsay Logan hit a jumper and a fast-break layup for a 9-0 Fresno State lead in the first two minutes of action.
"I made the wrong call," said Hawaii coach Vince Goo, who had the Wahine playing man-to-man defense to begin the game.
"The last time we played them we did pretty well with the matchup zone. My thought was we could defend them with the man because they are a good rebounding team and we needed to be in a man to box out better. Then they go 9-0."
Goo called a 30-second time out and the Wahine went back to the matchup zone and began to play catch-up. They cut the FSU lead to six points once in the first half on a jumper by Natasja Allen and two free throws by Kim Willoughby. That made the score 15-9 Bulldogs.
Fresno State led 28-20 at the half with much of the lead coming from taking advantage of UH turnovers. The Wahine committed 12 in the opening period and the Bulldogs turned them into 10 points vs. four points by UH off FSU miscues.
Tiffany Simon, another senior guard, nailed a 3-pointer with 3:01 to play for a 54-43 FSU lead. The Wahine (12-11, 6-8 WAC) would hold the Bulldogs scoreless the remainder of the game.
Michelle Gabriel hit a 3-pointer with 2:35 left, Jade Abele made two free throws with 1:54 to play and April Atuaia cut the deficit to 54-51 with 11 seconds left with a try from the left corner. Goo immediately called a time out with Fresno State having possession of the ball with 9.2 seconds on the clock.
"We had the right defense and they go long and throw the ball out of bounds at the other end," said Goo.
No Bulldog touched the ball, so the Wahine got possession under their own basket with a chance to tie the score with a 3-pointer and the same 9.2 seconds still on the clock.
"We ran a baseline inbound pass to Michelle in the right corner. She went up, was fouled (no call) on the arm, missed, grabbed her own rebound, but was way off balance and that's the way it is on the road," said Goo.
"We had turnovers and they came in bunches. We would play really good defense, but did not take advantage at the other end. Our legs weren't quick. We were out of synch between passer and receiver. We're not making excuses, but we know that's what happens."
Atuaia and Willoughby scored 13 points apiece for UH, while Garcia led FSU with 17 points.
UH center Christen Roper, who scored 14 points against the Bulldogs at home, but was being double- and triple-teamed every time she gets the ball, was held scoreless on five shots.
"We didn't even do a good job of getting her the ball," said Goo.
Aiea alumna Aritta Lane scored eight points in 17 minutes for Fresno State. The victory guarantees FSU its first winning season since 1996-97.
The Wahine return home today and host Tulsa on Thursday night at 7.
WAC Standings
WAC GAMES OVERALL W L Pct. W L Louisiana Tech 15 0 1.000 23 2 Fresno St. 9 6 .600 15 10 Tulsa 8 6 .571 13 12 Rice 8 6 .571 11 12 HAWAII 6 8 .429 12 11 San Jose St. 6 8 .429 10 13 Boise St. 6 8 .429 9 15 SMU 6 9 .400 12 13 UTEP 5 9 .357 10 14 Nevada 3 12 .200 10 15 YESTERDAY
Fresno St. 54, Hawaii 51
Louisiana Tech 85, Tulsa 66
Boise St. 71, UTEP 65, OT
San Jose St. 77, Nevada 52
Rice 68, SMU 48
RAINBOW WAHINE (12-11, 6-8 wac) Fresno St. 54, Hawaii 51
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 1 8 5 6 31 7 2 8 Allen 1 4 2 2 30 4 0 4 Roper 0 5 0 0 22 9 1 0 Gabriel 3 6 1 2 33 1 3 9 Atuaia 4 11 3 3 29 6 1 13 Willoughby 4 8 5 6 28 4 0 13 Nishimoto 0 3 0 0 7 1 0 0 Sanders 2 5 0 0 20 2 0 4 Team 3 Totals 15 50 16 19 200 37 7 51 BULLDOGS (15-10, 9-6 wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp High 0 1 0 0 5 0 1 0 Udeze 3 9 0 0 28 14 5 6 Logan 3 13 0 0 34 1 3 7 Garcia 6 12 0 0 31 6 1 17 Simon 5 10 0 0 32 2 2 12 Johnson 1 5 0 0 16 7 2 2 Sutherland 0 2 0 0 6 0 0 0 Mack 0 3 0 0 6 1 1 0 Moore 0 2 0 0 11 2 0 0 Probst 0 0 0 0 6 1 0 0 Lane 3 7 2 3 17 4 1 8 Clark 1 1 0 0 8 1 1 2 Team 4 Totals 22 65 2 3 200 43 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 -- Fresno St. 28, Hawaii 20.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 5-16 (Gabriel 2-4, Atuaia 2-6, Abele 1-4, Nishimoto 0-2); Fresno St. 8-25 (Garcia 5-10, Simon 2-5, Logan 1-5, Johnson 0-1, Lane 0-1, Mack 0-3).
Personal fouls -- Hawaii 11; Fresno St. 16.
Technical fouls -- Fresno St.: Bench.
Steals -- Hawaii 4 (Gabriel 2, Willoughby 2); Fresno St. 8 (Udeze 3, Simon 2, High, Logan, Probst).
Blocked shots -- Hawaii 4 (Roper 4); Fresno St. 1 (Probst).
Turnovers -- Hawaii 18; Fresno St. 16.
Officials -- Scott Hermon, Hugh Foster, Tony Feroh.
A -- 1,401.
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