[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Jade Abele went to the hoop and drew a foul from Sheridan Arredondo of Saint Mary's last night.
Hawaii edges St. Mary’s
In a game of ebbs and flows the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine had the flow going their way when it counted most last night, at the end of their game against Saint Mary's at the Stan Sheriff Center -- a 75-71 win.
Forced to respond to Saint Mary's leads in both halves, Hawaii broke a 69-69 tie, the 12th of the game, with 42 seconds left to play on Jade Abele's layup to take the lead for good, then sealed it on free throws by Janevia Taylor and Pam Tambini.
The victory over the Gaels (4-3) gives the Wahine (2-4) a chance to win the Territorial Savings Bank Invitational tomorrow night when they play Texas-Arlington at 7.
Saint Mary's plays the Mavericks today at 3.
Triola Jackson's 3-pointer created the tie with 51 seconds remaining and UH coach Vince Goo called a 30-second timeout when Jackson got the ball into the front court.
"We called a play for Jade and also set our defense depending on what we did, score or not. I think the ladies did a good job picking up on the instructions and went out and executed," Goo said.
"Vince put me in at the 5 (post) spot so we had five penetrators on the court. I was just the first option," said Abele, who led UH with 19 points. "Pam (Tambini) and Dalia (Solia) had just hit some outside shots, so the middle was pretty open."
Abele drove to the basket from the right side, shifted toward the middle when a Saint Mary's double team arrived and put up an underhand layup that rolled in. She was fouled and made the free throw.
The Gaels tried to counter with Jackson's 3-point try from the right corner, but she missed. April Atuaia grabbed the rebound and Saint Mary's was forced to foul.
Taylor's two swishes on free throw putting UH up 74-69 with 25.4 seconds left.
"Actually, I didn't have time to think. In my mind, I just wanted to hit these free throws. I hit them in practice, so I know I can hit them in the game," Taylor said.
The Wahine were hot from the line all night, hitting 24 of 28 attempts.
The Gaels took advantage of turnovers on UH's first two possessions and a 7-0 run to take an 11-4 lead four minutes onto the game. Callie Spooner, making her first start of the season at center, stopped the Saint Mary's spurt with a layup at 15:23.
Following 3-pointers by Evynn Van Burger and Brianna Winn that put the Gaels up 17-7, the Wahine changed their defense and came back with a 9-0 run to tie the score at 17-17 with 10:05 left in the half.
"We started off in man-to-man and switched to zone and pretty much stayed with it the rest of the way," Goo said. "They are quick and were making good cuts to the basket. We got back on our heels and they got open for the 3-point shots and knocked them down."
Three more ties occurred and the teams traded the lead a couple of times before Abele put UH ahead 30-29 with two free throws with 2:17 left.
Abele followed with a putback and Van Burger canned another trey for the Gaels, but Pam Tambini converted all four free-throw attempts in the final 8.2 seconds to give the Wahine a 36-32 lead at intermission.
Hawaii went into a funk early in the second half after Abele hit a 10-foot baseline jumper for a 38-32 lead.
The Gaels scored the next 12 points as UH went 0-for-6 from the field and committed two turnovers over the next four minutes.
"It (the Gael's run) was more our offense. We weren't patient enough. They got some fast breaks, pushed it up the floor and scored," Goo said.
Solia, who hit for a career-high 17 points on a 7-for-13 night from the field and success on all three free throws, broke the spell with a 15-foot jumper off an inbound play.
"That's pretty good, better than the other games. I kind of felt hyped tonight. I was on," said Solia, a freshman guard from Kaimuki.
"We showed our inactivity at times, but we were able to come back and have good spurts," Goo said. "They played well at times and not so well at times, just like us. It was a very interesting game."
Note: Kyla Evers (1997-2000) scored an alumnae game record 30 points to lead the Green past the White 79-64 in the annual battle of former UH players. Karena Greeny (1999-2002) added 16 points. Lynette Liu (1982-85) led the White with 16 points. Hedy Liu (1997-2000) had 14, while Lisa Mann (1985-89) and Michelle Gabriel (2000-03) each had 13 points.
Hawaii 75, St. Mary's 71
Gaels (4-3)
Rainbow Wahine (2-4)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Shaughnessy 2 2 0 0 37 6 4 5 Benavente 6 14 0 0 31 3 7 14 Williams 2 6 2 2 24 5 2 6 Jackson 8 17 0 0 27 6 0 16 Mertle 7 12 2 4 32 6 0 16 Obaiza 0 1 0 0 4 1 0 0 Urmonaite 0 2 0 0 3 1 0 0 Van Burger 2 6 0 0 12 3 0 6 Ludwick 0 0 1 2 6 0 0 1 Winn 1 5 0 0 16 1 1 3 Arredondo 2 5 0 0 8 3 0 4 Totals 30 70 5 8 200 39 14 71
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 12 7 7 36 8 4 19 Macfarlane 1 1 0 0 21 0 0 3 Atuaia 0 8 2 2 21 9 2 2 Spooner 3 5 2 4 21 5 1 8 Tambini 1 4 1 2 23 3 1 3 Taylor 2 8 2 2 20 2 4 7 Sanders 0 2 4 4 13 4 1 4 Solia 7 13 3 3 20 6 0 17 Aiwohi 3 4 0 0 8 1 0 7 Lee 1 3 2 2 9 1 0 4 Grice 0 2 1 2 8 0 0 1 Totals 24 62 24 28 200 45 13 75
Halftime-Hawaii 36, St. Mary's 32.
3-point goals--St. Mary's 6-17 (Van Burger 2, Benavente 2, Shaughnessy, Winn), Hawaii 3-9 (Macfarlane, Taylor, Aiwohi). Personal fouls--St. Mary's 21, Hawaii 6. Steals--St. Mary's 10 (Shaughnessy 3, Benavente 3, Williams, Jackson, Obaiza, Van Burger), Hawaii 6 (Abele 3, Macfarlane, Sanders, Aiwohi). Blocked shots--St. Mary's 2 (Obaiza, Winn), Hawaii 4 (Abele, Solia). Turnovers--St. Mary's 13 (Benavente 6, Winn 2, Arredondo, Van Burger, Urmonaite, Obaiza, Mertle), Hawaii 17 (Macfarlane 3, Atuaia 3, Abele 2, Tambini 2, Sanders 2, Aiwohi 2, Spooner, Solia, Lee).
A--751 (turnstile).
