The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine basketball team can still finish the Western Athletic Conference regular season as high as second place or as low as ninth. Wahine need home wins
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com
That is how congested the WAC standings are between regular-season champion Louisiana Tech and last-place Nevada. The Rainbow Wahine (12-11, 6-8 WAC) are in a three-way tie for fifth place with San Jose State and Boise State, two games behind this week's opponents, Tulsa and Rice, who are tied for third at 8-6.
When: Today, 7 p.m.
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
TV: Live, KFVE-TV (Channel 5)
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
Tickets: All seats general admission. $7 adults, $6 seniors, $4 for children (age 4-17) and UH students.
Parking: $3
Every game during a season is important, but the Wahine want to reverse road defeats to the Golden Hurricane by three points and to the Lady Owls by four points.
"It would be nice to sweep at home and get a little energy for our road trip to Boise State, UTEP and the WAC tournament," said Hawaii coach Vince Goo.
What has haunted the Wahine during the current three-game road losing streak is not finding a way to win close games in the final minutes. Goo says player conditioning is not the problem.
"We run good plays, get good looks, but we don't hit the shots down at the end. Sometimes they fall and sometimes they don't," said Goo, whose teams have a history of playing well on the road.
"Tulsa and Rice are key games. When does it stop? Well, we know when it will stop," Goo said.
The Golden Hurricane (13-12, 8-6 WAC) have a strong candidate for WAC Player of the Year in senior guard Allison Curtin. She is the top scorer (23.1 points per game) in the conference, but is more than just that. Curtin also leads the league in steals (3.2 per game), is fourth in assists (4.3 per game) and sixth in rebounding (7.6 per game).
There is more to the Tulsa team.
Senior center Alyssa Shriver and sophomore forward Alison Carney average 9.2 and 8.0 points per game, respectively, and Shriver is the league's top shot blocker (3.2 per game).
"They have inside and outside scoring capabilities and they have speed. They have been erratic at times, but they have played really well at times," said Goo.
The Lady Owls also like to run a quick transition game and have the players to execute it. Controlling the tempo in both games will be important for Hawaii.
"The key is transition defense," said Goo. "The key for us is to put it in their basket so they have to take it out of bounds. Last I heard that was the rule. If we don't, they can get the rebound and run all over the place."
The Wahine arrived home Sunday, took Monday off from practice to recuperate and catch up with school work, then returned to practice Tuesday.
"We had good intensity, but we were a little rough on the edges. We've got some colds and sore throats, but that's what happens when you are on the road for a long time."
WAC standings
Conference AllGames W L Pct. W L Pct. Louisiana Tech 15 0 1.000 23 2 .920 Fresno St. 9 6 .600 15 10 .600 Rice 8 6 .571 11 12 .478 Tulsa 8 6 .571 13 12 .520 Boise St. 6 8 .429 9 15 .375 Hawaii 6 8 .429 12 11 .522 San Jose St. 6 8 .429 10 13 .435 SMU 6 9 .400 12 13 .480 UTEP 5 9 .357 10 14 .417 Nevada 3 12 .200 10 15 .400 Today's games (All times HST)
Boise State at SMU, 3 p.m.
UTEP at Louisiana Tech, 3 p.m.
Rice at San Jose State, 5 p.m.
Tulsa at Hawaii, 7 p.m.
TULSA (13-12, 8-6 WAC) Probable Starters
Ht. Pts. Reb. Ast. G Allison Curtin (Sr.) 5-11 23.1 7.6 4.3 G Candice Brewer (Jr.) 5-8 6.0 4.1 3.0 G Kara Pongonis (Fr.) 5-5 3.2 1.1 0.9 F Alison Carney (So.) 6-1 8.0 6.6 1.3 C Alyssa Shriver (Sr.) 6-4 9.2 5.8 0.6 HAWAII (12-11, 6-8 WAC)
Ht. Pts. Reb. Ast. G Michelle Gabriel (Sr.) 5-6 5.1 2.6 3.0 G April Atuaia (Jr.) 5-10 10.0 4.3 2.0 F Natasja Allen (Sr.) 6-2 10.0 5.8 1.0 F Jade Abele (So.) 5-11 10.3 3.8 4.2 C Christen Roper (Sr.) 6-5 10.3 7.7 0.8 Notes: Hawaii leads the series 8-2, but the Golden Hurricane won the last meeting 45-42 in Tulsa. ... UH center Christen Roper needs two more blocked shots to become the all-time WAC career leader. She has 267 roofs entering tonight's game. ... Kim Willoughby now leads the Wahine in scoring average with 11.2 points per game. ... Saturday is Senior Night with the first 500 fans entering the arena receiving a free team photo.
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