RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Brittany Grice put up a shot over Tennessee Tech's Courtney McFarlin in the first half at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Tech beats Wahine
The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine basketball team still has some work and refining to do before the Western Athletic Conference season opens on the road the first week of January.
The young Wahine (2-7) fell behind early last night, a scenario that is hard to overcome, then battled back to keep the game from being a rout, but still ended up on the short end of the score.
The Tennessee Tech Golden Eaglettes (3-5) survived a late barrage of UH 3-pointers by making their free throws and won the third-place game 64-59 in the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic before 430 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Northern Iowa captured the crown in overtime with an 83-77 victory over the Fairfield Stags.
The Wahine played spotty basketball in the first 20 minutes and trailed at intermission 26-18. They connected on a paltry 23 percent of their field-goal attempts in the opening half, well below their season average of 37 percent from the field.
"They played a really good zone defense. They were always there, in your face. We had some good looks, took good shots, but they weren't falling," Wahine senior tri-captain April Atuaia said.
Casey Bradford scored six points as Tech jumped out to a 15-5 lead in the first seven minutes.
After the second media timeout, UH quickly cut the lead in half on a layup by Brittany Grice and a 3-pointer by Amy Sanders, but the Golden Eaglettes went on a 9-4 run. Courtney McFarlin hit a trey and a short jumper to help Tech take a 24-14 lead with six minutes left before halftime.
In the final 5:34 before the break, UH scored four points and Tech two as neither team had much success finding the bottom of the net. Tennessee Tech shot 36 percent from the floor in the half.
The Golden Eaglettes came out of the break and attacked the UH zone with accurate shooting from beyond the arc, making their first four 3-pointers, two by Emily Christian and one each by Jenna Baltimore and Arleigh Brackin. That upped Tech's lead to 18 points 38-20.
UH was just 1-for-7 from the field and had two turnovers during the first five minutes of the second half.
The Wahine whittled the Tech lead down to 10 points (46-36) as Jade Abele sank two 3-pointers, Bryony Crouch made a free throw, a bucket and a trey, and Janevia Taylor hit a 17-foot jumper.
But, the Golden Eaglettes did not fold. A three-point play by Baltimore and a 3-pointer by Brackin put Tech ahead 16 with 8:19 left.
Tech hit eight of 12 free throws at the end to foil the Wahine comeback.
Northern Iowa 83, Fairfield 77, OT: Amy Swisher had 26 points and 10 rebounds as the Panthers (4-4) scored the first six points in overtime to beat the Stags (3-6). Schrene Isidora led Fairfield with 22 points.
Tennessee Tech 64, Hawaii 59
GOLDEN EAGLETTES (3-5) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Apple 1 2 0 0 14 1 0 2 Baltimore 5 16 2 5 34 7 3 15 Cavin 1 4 2 2 15 2 2 4 Alexander 1 2 1 2 23 6 4 4 Brackin 2 6 0 0 34 4 0 6 McFarlin 2 5 0 0 18 3 0 5 Bradford 2 3 6 6 18 3 2 10 Christian 7 14 3 3 31 8 1 18 Brown 0 1 0 0 13 2 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 21 53 14 18 200 37 12 64 RAINBOW WAHINE (2-7) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 6 13 2 2 30 3 5 20 Macfarlane 1 5 0 0 18 2 3 3 Atuaia 1 9 2 2 30 6 1 5 Spooner 1 3 0 0 12 1 1 2 Sanders 2 9 0 1 22 4 0 5 Taylor 1 4 2 2 30 5 3 4 Nishimoto 0 0 0 2 5 0 1 0 Crouch 4 9 1 2 13 3 0 10 Aiwohi 0 2 1 2 5 1 0 1 Lee 1 1 2 4 12 3 0 4 Grice 2 3 1 2 16 3 0 5 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 19 58 11 19 200 34 14 59
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-TTU 26, Hawaii 18.
3-point goals-- Hawaii 10-29 (Abele 6-10, Sanders 1-2, Macfarlane 1-4, Atuaia 1-5,Crouch 1-5,Taylor 0-1, Aiwohi 0-2). TTU 8-24(Baltimore 3-10, Brackin 2-6, Christian 1-1, Alexander 1-2, McFarlin 1-2, Brown 0-1, Cavin 0-2). Personal fouls-- Hawaii 15, TTU 20. Technical fouls--none. Steals-- Hawaii 5 (Crouch 2, Atuaia, Nishimoto, Taylor); TTU 5 (Alexander 2, Apple, Brackin, Bradford). Blocked shots-- Hawaii 2 (Sanders, Spooner); TTU 0; Turnovers-- Hawaii 9 (Abele 4, Atuaia 2, Spooner 2, Grice.); TTU 10(McFarlin 2, Alexander, Baltimore, Brackin, Bradford, Brown, Cavin, Christian). Officials--Lewis, Tanibe, Hottendorf. A--430.
