BOISE, Idaho >> Hawaii left all those excruciating, three- and four-point road defeats in the dust last night with a blowout victory over smaller Boise State. Wahine end road skid
From staff and wire reports
The Rainbow Wahine exploited their height advantage with an inside attack not seen in recent games to record a 79-48 Western Athletic Conference victory, their first road win of the season.
The scoring output equals the season high against Sacramento State in the second game of the campaign.
The Broncos tried to disrupt the Wahine passing lanes with a man defense that picked the UH players up beyond the arc, but that just opened up space in the paint for Hawaii's post players. The Wahine (14-12, 8-9 WAC) scored 42 points in the key compared to four for Boise State (9-18, 6-11 WAC).
"The Broncos put a lot of pressure on us on the perimeter," Hawaii coach Vince Goo said. "We told the players, if we can handle that, we will get the ball inside and we will score easily.
"It all started with Michelle (Gabriel) doing the job. Then, Trisha (Nishimoto) and Milia (Macfarlane) came in and they handled the pressure well, too.
"Our players did a good job of reading the Boise State defense. They have good help defense, so the skip pass was open and that's why we had so many 3-point attempts."
Christen Roper, who had totaled just six points in the past three games, was 6-for-6 from the field in the first half and finished with a game-high 16 points. She also had 10 rebounds, for her fifth double-double of the season.
"Christen has played superior defense all year long," Goo said. "There have been times, especially lately, where she hasn't played so well on offense. We told her to let the game come to her, to play under control and have good balance. I think she got her rhythm back tonight."
April Atuaia followed with 11 points, while Michelle Gabriel and Kim Willoughby had 10 apiece as 11 of the 12 Wahine on the trip scored. Atuaia's three treys moved her into eighth place on the career list with 69.
Hawaii limited the Broncos to 27 percent from the floor in the opening half and to 32 percent for the game.
"We put a switching man defense in for the first time this year and we did a good job. That's where all our offense got started," said Goo.
The Wahine parried with the Broncos for the first four minutes, then took a hint from their stifling defense to kick the offense into high gear.
Boise State opened by scoring the first four points, but UH caught up on layups by Jade Abele and Roper off an up-and-over pass from Natasja Allen.
Lynnette Grondin swished a trey 4:30 into the game to give the Broncos a 7-4 lead, the last one they would enjoy for the remainder of the half.
Atuaia's 3-pointer pulled Hawaii even and started an 11-0 run. That was just the beginning. After Mandy Welch broke the spell for the Broncos with a jumper, the Wahine left no doubt who was in control by scoring 15 consecutive points for a 30-9 lead en route to a 40-15 halftime advantage.
With Southern Methodist and Tulsa losing and San Jose State edging Texas-El Paso in overtime last night, the Wahine are in a three-way tie for fourth place with the Golden Hurricane and the Spartans. If the Wahine beat the Miners tomorrow night, they skip the first-round play-in at the WAC tournament next week regardless of how the other teams fare.
WAC Women's Standings
WAC GAMES OVERALL W L PCT. W L Louisiana Tech 18 0 1.000 26 2 Fresno St. 11 6 .647 17 10 Rice 11 6 .647 14 12 Hawaii 8 9 .471 14 12 Tulsa 8 9 .471 13 15 San Jose St. 8 9 .471 12 14 SMU 8 10 .444 14 14 Boise St. 6 11 .353 9 18 UTEP 5 12 .294 10 17 Nevada 3 14 .176 10 17 YESTERDAY
Hawaii 79, Boise St. 48
Louisiana Tech 89, SMU 56
Fresno St. 60, Tulsa 58
Rice 70, Nevada 45
San Jose St. 87, UTEP 84
TOMORROW
Hawaii at UTEP
Fresno St. at Rice
San Jose St. at Boise St.
Nevada at Tulsa
HAWAII (14-12, 8-9 wac)
Hawaii 79, Boise St. 48
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 3 6 2 2 26 1 11 8 Allen 4 7 0 0 25 2 2 8 Roper 8 10 0 0 28 10 1 16 Gabriel 4 6 0 0 31 2 1 10 Atuaia 4 6 0 0 29 6 4 11 Willoughby 5 8 0 1 15 6 0 10 Nishimoto 2 4 2 2 4 1 0 7 Macfarlane 0 1 2 2 9 0 0 2 Jones 0 0 2 2 8 1 0 2 Sanders 1 5 0 0 15 3 4 2 Spooner 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 Aiwohi 1 1 0 0 6 0 0 3 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 32 54 8 9 200 35 23 79 BRONCOS (9-18, 6-11 wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Woodfield 2 4 0 1 24 6 1 4 Grant 2 4 2 2 27 2 0 6 Hawkins 3 12 4 6 37 4 0 10 Grondin 2 14 0 0 36 6 1 6 Vaughan 5 8 0 0 33 2 3 13 Paiz 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 Welch 2 6 0 0 16 2 1 4 Nakashima 1 5 0 0 7 1 1 3 Ramirez 1 3 0 0 16 3 2 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 18 56 6 9 200 27 9 48 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 -- Hawaii 40, Boise St. 15.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 7-12 (Atuaia 3-4, Gabriel 2-3, Nishimoto 1-1, Aiwohi 1-1, Macfarlane 0-1, Abele 0-2); Boise St. 6-20 (Vaughan 3-6, Grondin 2-9, Nakashima 1-3, Welch 0-2).
Personal fouls -- Hawaii 10, Boise St. 10.
Technical fouls -- None.
Steals -- Hawaii 6 (Atuaia 3, Abele, Gabriel, Willoughby); Boise St. 5 (Welch 2, Hawkins, Grondin, Vaughan).
Blocked shots -- Hawaii 4 (Allen, Roper, Gabriel, Aiwohi); Boise St. 1 (Vaughan).
Turnovers -- Hawaii 11 (Roper 2, Gabriel 2, Atuaia 2, Abele, Allen, Macfarlane, Sanders, Aiwohi); Boise St. 15 (Hawkins 3, Grondin 3, Woodfield 2, Grant 2, Paiz 2, Ramirez 2, Welch).
Officials -- Karen Pence, Kent Johnson, Darren Krzesnik.
A -- 790.
UH Athletics
