[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's April Atuaia went up to the basket against Maine's Melissa Heon yesterday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Wahine still winless
The Maine Black Bears have all five starters back and the experience showed yesterday in the third-place game of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Maine (1-1) used a 13-0 run early in the second half to assume control of the matchup with Hawaii (0-2) and went on to defeat the Rainbow Wahine 75-62.
In the championship game, the Washington Huskies defeated the Lipscomb Lady Bisons 78-52.
After scouting Hawaii on Saturday, Maine coach Sharon Versyp thought the Wahine would alter their defensive strategy slightly to try to stop the Black Bears' Heather Ernest, the 6-foot-1 scoring machine who can work effectively inside and step out and sink the trey.
"We expected Hawaii to sag off on Heather. As soon as she gets the ball she has two or three people on her and it has been that way since her freshman year," said Versyp.
UH coach Vince Goo was aware of Ernest's talents and covered a number of defensive areas in yesterday morning's shootaround. He also recognized Maine's penetrating abilities and was concerned about that.
"I thought we were better on defense today, but the Black Bears are good shooters," said Goo. "They were very good at recognizing when we doubled down (on Ernest) and they kicked the ball back out to the perimeter."
The Wahine were faced with stopping Ernest inside and hustling on defense to stop the Black Bears from getting good looks outside. It was a little too much for the young Hawaii squad to handle on a steady basis.
That factor benefited Maine, as the Black Bears connected on 10 3-pointers and Ernest finished with 32 points.
The Black Bears solidified control of the game in the first seven minutes of the second half by outscoing UH 19-8. Ernest scored nine consecutive points and 13 of Maine's first 15 points as the Black Bears built an 18-point lead, 56-38. Only once, with 9:13 to play on two free throws by Pam Tambini, did the Wahine cut the deficit to fewer than 10 points.
"I just think we need to find the best five on the court. It's still early in the season, but we need to be more consistent," said UH junior tri-captain Jade Abele.
"We spend so much time and energy getting back into the game, then we have a lapse. We need to make a run and keep pushing, but we tend to ease off a bit. We're rebounding well, but our transition has to get better. What's happened is not from lack of effort."
Atuaia repeated as UH's high scorer with 12 points and Lee had the most rebounds with seven.
Washington 78, Lipscomb 52
The Huskies (2-0) dominated both ends of the court for 40 minutes in rolling to the tournament title. They made 52 percent of their field goals in the first half to take a 37-19 lead at intermission, then held the Lady Bisons (1-1) without a point for the first 4 1/2 minutes of the second half in building a 28-point lead. Andrea Lalum cemented her tournament MVP selection with a 21-point, five-rebound, two-blocked shots night.
All-Tournament team
Heather Ernest and Ashley Underwood, Maine; April Atuaia, Hawaii, Courtney Boynton, Lipscomb and Giuliana Mendiola, Washington.
MVP: Andrea Lalum, Washington.
Maine 75, Hawaii 62
OWLS (1-1) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Heon 4 15 0 0 32 9 6 10 Traversi 2 4 0 0 18 1 0 5 Ernest 11 16 8 8 32 8 1 32 Jay 0 1 0 0 5 3 0 0 Veilleux 3 8 0 0 21 3 3 8 Underwood 3 7 0 0 22 2 4 9 Whittier 1 2 0 0 16 1 1 2 Corbitt 1 6 0 0 25 2 3 2 Gay 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Barker 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 Quackenbush 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 Peterson 3 6 1 2 23 7 2 7 Totals 28 68 9 10 200 39 20 75 Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
WAHINE (0-2) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 3 7 3 4 22 5 1 9 Macfarlane 0 1 2 2 14 1 0 2 Atuaia 4 8 2 2 29 6 2 12 Tambini 2 7 4 4 24 5 2 8 Grice 2 3 4 5 15 1 0 8 Taylor 2 11 2 2 22 4 2 6 Nishimoto 1 6 0 1 14 1 1 2 Sanders 2 5 3 4 18 4 1 7 Solia 0 2 0 0 16 2 1 0 Crouch 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Spooner 2 5 0 0 9 4 0 4 Aiwohi 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Lee 2 2 0 0 15 7 0 4 Totals 20 58 20 24 200 41 10 62
Halftime--Maine 37, Hawaii 30.
3-point goals--Maine 10-25 (Underwood 3, Ernest 2, Heon 2, Veilleux 2, Traversi), Hawaii 2-14 (Atuaia 2). Personal fouls--Maine 20, Hawaii 13. Steals--Maine 10 (Corbitt 3, Underwood 2, Ernest 2, Heon, Traversi, Veilleux), Hawaii 5 (Abele, Atuaia, Taylor, Nishimoto, Sanders). Blocked shots--Maine 1 (Peterson), Hawaii 3 (Abele, Tambini, Lee). Turnovers--Maine 10 (Traversi 2, Underwood 2, Heon, Ernest, Whittier, Corbitt, Peterson, Team), Hawaii 14 (Lee 3, Abele 2, Atuaia 2, Tambini 2, Sanders 2, Macfarlane, Nishimoto, Solia). A--627.
