[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
Hartford holds off
Hawaii in overtime
The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine played their best game of the season only to lose 79-76 in overtime to the Hartford Hawks last night in the opening round of the 25th annual Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawaii plays Syracuse today at 11. The Hawks face Montana at 3:20 p.m. in one championship semifinal.
The other championship semifinal has Texas meeting Virginia at 5:30 p.m. Navy plays Arizona at 1:10 p.m. in a consolation semifinal.
The Wahine (0-3) led most of the game until Hartford junior guard Liz Stich hit a short jumper in the lane with 1:44 left in regulation to put her team up 65-63. UH's April Atuaia tied the score with 51 seconds left on a layup.
After Hartford's Tanika Price missed two free throws, Ericka Messam was called for a pushing foul, giving UH possession with 9.6 ticks on the clock and a timeout. The Wahine went back on the court with options for anyone with a good look at the basket to shoot. Milia Macfarlane's 15-footer from the left side as time ran out hit the rim after the Wahine passed the ball around the top of the circle.
"Vince (Wahine coach Goo) wanted us to be aggressive to the basket, but that was my fault. I had a chance and didn't take it," said Jade Abele, who scored a career-high 21 points.
"We know we can play well. This game will help our confidence. We played well in the first half and now we know we can play good basketball."
UH trailed just once early -- 5-3 -- when Price scored off the Hawks' fourth consecutive rebound. The score then was tied twice before Abele put UH ahead 11-9 with 13:19 remaining in the half.
The Wahine outscored the Hawks 21-10 over the final 9:36 of the opening half to take their first lead at intermission this season 34-22. Macfarlane and Trisha Nishimoto each scored six points during that spurt.
The Hawks closed to within five points at 27-22 with 2:28 to go as Stich sank consecutive 8-foot jumpers from the right lane. Hawaii responded to that lead challenge with Atuaia's 14-foot baseline jumper, Callie Spooner's spinning layup across the lane and Abele's 3-pointer from the left corner with three seconds on the clock.
After UH built an 11-point lead midway through the second half, the Hawks went on a 10-0 run to get right back in the game. The last four points came on steals and fastbreak layups by Ikea Witt and Messam.
"We had turnovers in the half court and just had people not making good passes," Goo said. "I think we lost composure on offense in the second half. We didn't have someone step in and be willing to score. We made some passes when we should have taken the shot."
The Wahine had played well at both ends of the court in the first half and were warned at halftime that the Hawks (3-0) had been a second-half team in their first two games this season.
"We were told we had to come out with more intensity in the second half," said Macfarlane, who scored a career-high 12 points. "They came out and applied pressure and were successful. We needed to carry the focus we had in the first half through to the second half."
No. 2 Texas 97, Navy 46: The Longhorns held a 12-11 lead with 14:19 left in the first half after Navy's Courtney Davidson drove the length of the court for a layup. Texas (4-0) then outscored the Mids (2-2) 32-12 the remainder of the half to take control of yesterday's opening game.
The Longhorns hit 45 percent of their field goals in the first half, forced 12 turnovers and outrebounded the Mids 28-15. Texas dominated in the paint, scoring 30 points on layups or putbacks.
Sophomore guard Nina Norman scored a season-high 18 points to lead five Longhorns in double figures. Davidson topped Navy with 15 points.
Virginia 70, No. 21 Arizona 65: The Cavaliers (2-1) did not seal the victory until LaTonya Blue worked free for a jumper at the foul line for a 69-65 lead with 54 seconds left and Anna Prillanan sank a free throw with seven ticks to go.
The Wildcats had erased a 10-point deficit in the previous nine minutes on the shooting of Shawntinice Polk, Shannon Hobson and Dee-Dee Wheeler. Aimee Grzyb's bucket pulled Arizona (1-2) to within two points, 67-65, with 1:55 to play.
In the opening half, the Cavaliers took the lead and began a 9-0 run on a 10-foot, baseline jumper from the left by Anna Cosswhite three minutes into the game and held a 31-27 lead at the half.
Blue's 16 points were high for Virginia. Fellow guard Prillaman had 13 and center Brandi Teamer added 13.
Polk led UA with 14 points and Wheeler contributed 12.
Montana 65, Syracuse 55: The Lady Griz (2-0) took a 39-20 halftime lead behind Julie Deming's 14 points en route to a comfortable victory over the Orangewomen (2-1).
Hollie Tyler finished with 18 points for Montana, while Brooklynn Lorenzen and Jody McLeod scored 10 each.
Syracuse was led by Sarah Wegrzynowicz, who had nine points.
Hartford 79, Hawaii 76 OT
Hawks (3-0)
Rainbow Wahine (0-3)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Messam 4 7 5 7 33 4 5 15 Gale 1 5 0 0 22 1 0 2 Murray 5 9 0 0 31 1 4 15 Stich 7 13 1 2 31 8 2 16 Price 3 4 2 4 20 7 0 8 Wexler 0 2 0 0 8 0 0 0 Witt 5 14 4 4 31 4 4 14 DiDonato 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 Matulis 2 7 0 0 22 7 0 4 Clark 2 4 1 3 16 1 0 5 Team 3 Totals 29 65 13 20 225 36 15 79
Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 6 13 7 8 34 6 3 21 Macfarlane 5 9 2 2 40 4 3 12 Atuaia 6 11 2 5 37 6 2 16 Tambini 2 6 0 0 33 6 0 4 Grice 1 2 1 3 14 2 0 3 Taylor 0 2 0 0 7 0 0 0 Nishimoto 4 6 4 4 12 1 1 12 Sanders 0 3 2 2 10 4 1 2 Spooner 1 2 2 2 13 3 0 4 Aiwohi 0 5 0 0 7 2 0 0 Lee 1 2 0 0 18 2 0 2 Team 4 Totals 26 61 20 26 225 40 10 76
Halftime-Hartford 22, Hawaii 34.
3-point goals--Hartford 8-18 (Murray 5, Messam 2, Stich 1), Hawaii 4-13 (Abele 2, Atuaia 2). Personal fouls--Hartford 22, Hawaii 18. Steals--Hartford 7 (Messam 3, Witt 2, Gale, Stich), Hawaii 2 (Macfarlane, Taylor). Blocked shots--Hartford 4 (Price 3, Witt 1), Hawaii 1 (Sanders). Turnovers--Hartford 12 (Matulis 2, Messam 2, Murray 2, Price 2, Stich 2, Gale, Witt), Hawaii 14 (Abele 3, Atuaia 3, Macfarlane 2, Spooner 2, Taylor 2, Aiwohi, Nishimoto). A--893.
