EL PASO, Texas >> When given the choice to be average or good, the Rainbow Wahine basketball team chose to be excellent yesterday. Wahine kick it
up a notchFrom staff and wire reports
Hawaii overcame a sluggish start and avoided a play-in game in this week's Western Athletic Conference tournament with a 68-57 win over Texas-El Paso at Don Haskins Center.
"Tonight, we didn't play well in the first half and then really turned it up in the second half," Hawaii coach Vince Goo said. "We've said this a number of times during the year. If we don't have enough players show up and play to their potential and play with a lot of intensity, then we're just an average team.
"But when we have enough players doing those things, then we can be very good. Tonight's first and second half was an example of most of the season."
The Wahine got their second road win of the season after losing their first seven road games and now have some momentum going into the WAC tourney.
Hawaii improved to 15-12 and ended conference play with a 9-9 record. Hawaii earned the No. 5 seed of the tournament and will play fourth-seeded Tulsa on Wednesday. The Miners fell to 10-18 and 5-13.
Junior April Atuaia (18 points, nine rebounds) lit up the Miners from beyond the arc with a career-high four 3-pointers.
Atuaia's fourth trey cut a 34-26 halftime deficit to five in the opening minutes of the second half. The Wahine continued to gnaw away at the Miners' lead before freshman Trisha Nishimoto's only basket of the game gave Hawaii a 45-44 lead.
It was a one-point game over the next six minutes until Hawaii used an 11-0 run in the last 2:30 to bury the Miners.
Perhaps spurred by the coaches' halftime chiding, Hawaii shot 65 percent in the second half and held UTEP to 26.9 percent after the Miners shot 44 percent in the first half.
Senior Christen Roper rejected eight shots and scored 10 of her 15 points in the second half to go along with 12 rebounds. Volleyball All-American Kim Willoughby came off the bench and dropped in 14 points on five-of-six shooting from the field.
Willoughby was especially effective in the second half against Dragana Zoric. The Miners' leading scorer flattened the Wahine in the first half with 18 points, including two from beyond the arc. But Zoric cooled off in the second half and scored just six more points.
"Zoric is a player that if you put a guard on her she'll play the inside game," Goo said. "If you put somebody big on her, she'll go out to the perimeter and shoot 3s or penetrate with the dribble.
"The key was that we put Kim Willoughby on her in the second half and basically shut her down. (Zoric) got no looks from 3-point and (Willoughby) got up on her real tight. Whatever she tried to put on the floor, Kim has got great lateral movement so she did just an excellent job on her defensively."
WAC Standings
WAC Games Overall W L Pct. W L Louisiana Tech 18 0 1.000 26 2 Rice 12 6 .667 15 12 Fresno St. 11 7 .611 17 11 Hawaii 9 9 .500 15 12 Tulsa 9 9 .500 14 15 San Jose St. 9 9 .500 13 14 SMU 8 10 .444 14 14 Boise St. 6 12 .333 9 19 UTEP 5 13 .278 10 18 Nevada 3 15 .167 10 18 YESTERDAY
HAWAII 68, UTEP 57
Tulsa 73, Nevada 61
Rice 59, Fresno St. 54
San Jose St. 73, Boise St. 61
HAWAII (15-12, 9-9 wac) Hawaii 68, UTEP 57
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 2 7 1 4 27 1 3 6 Allen 1 3 0 0 18 2 1 2 Roper 5 10 5 6 37 12 3 15 Gabriel 2 6 3 4 34 4 5 9 Atuaia 5 11 4 4 34 9 2 18 Willoughby 5 6 4 4 25 2 2 14 Nishimoto 1 3 0 0 8 0 3 2 Macfarlane 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 Sanders 1 3 0 0 14 2 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 Totals 22 50 17 20 200 38 19 68 MINERS (10-18, 5-13 wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Zoric 10 19 2 2 38 12 3 24 DeAnda 3 10 0 0 38 4 1 8 Ramirez 0 3 0 0 16 3 2 0 Guild 2 6 0 0 33 2 5 4 Valtierra 3 7 2 2 25 0 1 8 Wharemate 2 5 2 3 26 2 4 7 Vidic 0 1 2 2 4 1 0 2 Goslin 2 9 0 0 20 4 0 4 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 22 60 8 9 200 31 16 57 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 -- UTEP 34, Hawaii 26.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 7-20 (Atuaia 4-8, Gabriel 2-6, Abele 1-4, Nishimoto 0-1, Sanders 0-1); UTEP 5-16 (Zoric 2-5, DeAnda 2-8, Wharemate 1-1, Guild 0-1, Valtierra 0-1).
Personal fouls -- Hawaii 11, UTEP 19.
Technical fouls -- None.
Steals -- Hawaii 2 (Allen, Willoughby); UTEP 7 (Zoric 2, DeAnda, Guild, Valtierra, Wharemate, Goslin).
Blocked shots -- Hawaii 12 (Roper 8, Abele, Allen, Gabriel, Atuaia); UTEP 1 (Goslin).
Turnovers -- Hawaii 14 (Abele 4, Atuaia 3, Willoughby 3, Allen 2, Gabriel 2); UTEP 10 (Guild 2, Valtierra 2, Goslin 2, Zoric, DeAnda, Ramirez, Wharemate).
Officials -- Mr. Washington, Jeff Caudle, Robyn Ensminger.
A -- 1,005.
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