FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Christen Roper looked for a shot as she was guarded by Rice's Jonetta Hayes last night.
The Rice Lady Owls took advantage of a Hawaii scoring drought in the last five minutes of the Western Athletic Conference game to defeat the Rainbow Wahine 56-47 on Senior Night before 1,684 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center. Hawaii hits wall
against RiceBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comKim Willoughby's short pull-up jumper with 4:52 remaining tied the score at 46. A free throw by Jade Abele a minute later would be the final point on the UH side of the scoreboard.
Kim Lawson broke the tie with a three-point play with 4:17 remaining when she drove the baseline for a layup and was fouled. Kara Liggett, who hit a 3-pointer mini-ticks before the half to give Rice the lead at intermission, sank another one with 3:33 to go and the Lady Owls (13-12, 10-6 WAC) had a five-point lead and let their defense carry the load the remainder of the game.
On Hawaii's next three possessions there were two missed shots and a turnover. The Wahine started to foul with 1:04 on the clock, but that strategy failed because the Rice defense met the Wahine at the arc and refused to allow the UH players a good look at the basket.
"We were supposed to foul before that, but we just didn't get it done," said Hawaii coach Vince Goo.
The Wahine also struggled at the free-throw line after making six of eight attempts in the first half. Early in the second half, the Hawaii power game was working and the Lady Owls were fouling, but the Wahine messed up that opportunity to create a difference on the scoreboard. In the second half, Hawaii (13-11, 7-9 ) converted just nine of 18 free throws, not typical of a Vince Goo-coached team.
"We went to the free throw line just like we did at their place, but did not shoot well. We thought it would come down to that. We just didn't play well. I don't think Rice played particularly well, but they did down the stretch and that won the game," said Goo.
April Atuaia led UH with 13 points. Anne Peck topped the Lady Owls with 11 points.
The Rainbow Wahine and Lady Owls took time getting their offenses into gear, scoring just eight points combined in the first 4:09. Neither offense came close to high gear as defense at both ends of the court dominated the first half.
A three-point play by Natasja Allen put UH up 10-6 with 14:07 to play. A 3-pointer followed by a layup, both by Atuaia, gave the Wahine their biggest lead of the first half, 19-12, with 8:27 left on the clock.
For the next 3:10 the Wahine managed just one point on a Kim Willoughby free throw. The Lady Owls, with Peck hitting two jumpers and Kate Beckler sinking a trey, tied the score at 22 with 2:10 left in the half.
Allen made a layup and Michelle Gabriel converted both ends of a one-and-one opportunity to offset buckets by Beckler and Peck down the stretch.
But, with 17.8 seconds left on the clock, the Lady Owls advanced the ball upcourt and found Beckler open with just enough time to hit a trey with 0.3 showing on the clock, giving Rice a 29-26 lead at the half.
With starting point guard Kim Lawson and starting center Johnetta Hayes on the bench with two fouls early in the opening half, the Lady Owls got 19 of their 29 points from the bench led by Peck's 10 and Beckler's eight.
WAC standings
WAC GAMES OVERALL W L PCT. W L Louisiana Tech 17 0 1.000 25 2 Rice 10 6 .625 13 12 Fresno St. 9 6 .600 15 10 Tulsa 8 7 .533 13 13 SMU 8 9 .471 14 13 Hawaii 7 9 .438 13 12 San Jose St. 6 9 .400 10 14 Boise St. 6 10 .375 9 17 UTEP 5 11 .313 10 16 Nevada 3 12 .200 10 15 Yesterday
Louisiana Tech 90, Boise St. 60
SMU 68, UTEP 62
Rice 56, Hawaii 47
Rice 56, Hawaii 47
LADY OWLS (13-12, 10-6 WAC)
FG FGA FT FTA MIN REB A TP Maynard 1 5 1 2 26 2 2 4 Lawson 1 5 4 5 30 7 6 6 Woods 3 8 0 0 33 6 1 7 Hayes 2 7 1 1 24 6 0 5 Cunningham 1 4 0 0 13 2 2 2 Singleton 0 1 0 0 6 0 0 0 Peck 5 11 1 4 20 8 0 11 Beckler 3 6 0 0 14 1 0 8 Jeffries 1 5 0 0 14 1 0 2 Liggett 3 6 2 2 12 1 0 2 Elder 0 0 2 2 5 1 0 2 Florus 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 Totals 20 59 11 16 200 42 11 56 RAINBOW WAHINE (13-12, 7-9 WAC)
FG FGA FT FTA MIN REB A TP Abele 1 5 1 2 34 2 4 4 Roper 1 7 0 0 24 5 1 2 Gabriel 0 2 4 4 28 1 2 4 Atuaia 5 10 2 2 34 7 0 13 Allen 4 6 4 12 31 7 2 12 Willoughby 4 9 3 4 26 8 0 11 Nishimoto 0 1 0 0 5 1 0 0 Macfarlane 0 2 0 0 8 1 0 0 Sanders 0 2 1 2 10 0 0 1 Spooner 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 15 44 15 26 200 35 9 47 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 -- Rice 29, Hawaii 26.
3-point goals -- Rice 5-9 (Beckler 2-3, Maynard 1-1, Woods 1-1, Liggett 1-2, Lawson 0-2); Hawaii 2-9 (Abele 1-3, Atuaia 1-4, Gabriel 0-1, Nishimoto 0-1).
Personal fouls -- Rice 17; Hawaii 14.
Technical fouls -- None.
Steals -- Rice 2 (Woods 2); Hawaii 6 (Abele, Gabriel, Atuaia, Willoughby, Nishimoto, Macfarlane).
Blocked shots -- Rice 3 (Hayes 2, Maynard); Hawaii 6 (Roper 5, Allen).
Turnovers -- Rice 12 (Hayes 3, Lawson 2, Woods 2, Maynard, Hayes, Cunningham, Singleton, Peck, Elder); Hawaii 15 (Abele 3, Roper 3, Allen 3, Gabriel 2, TEAM 2, Atuaia, Willoughby).
Officials -- Anita Ortega, Jack Jones, Michael Price.
A -- 2,455.
UH Athletics
