[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Jade Abele tried to get to the basket despite the defense of Louisiana Tech's Tasha Crain last night.
Louisiana Tech cruises
against Wahine
The quickness, athleticism and anticipation of the Louisiana Tech women's basketball team carried the Lady Techsters to a 67-50 victory over Hawaii in a Western Athletic Conference women's basketball game last night before a crowd of 775 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Lady Techsters stole the ball 12 times, forced the Rainbow Wahine into a season-high 23 turnovers and held a double-digit lead the entire second half.
LATECH 67 HAWAII 50
NEXT UP
at UTEP on Thursday
"We did the same thing to start the game as we did against SMU (on Thursday), but the difference was we were playing Louisiana Tech," Hawaii coach Vince Goo said. "The early turnovers and the missed field-goal attempts were all Louisiana Tech. There actually should have been one more turnover on a ball off our foot but the refs gave us the ball.
"I thought they might put more full-court pressure on us, but they didn't and it's a good thing because they are pretty quick."
The first nine minutes of the game were nothing but ugly for the Wahine (4-10, 2-3 WAC). In the initial 4:33 they managed just three field-goal attempts because on five other trips down the court they committed turnovers. The only basket came on Jade Abele's trey at the 19:05 mark.
The 12th-ranked Lady Techsters (12-2, 5-1) led 9-3 at the first electronic-media timeout (15:27).
They led 15-3 at the next such break (10:30) helped by the fact Hawaii committed five more turnovers and continued to struggle from the field, making just one of six shots.
"There wasn't any reason for the turnovers. It wasn't anything they were doing," UH point guard Janevia Taylor said. "We were ready for the game. We were prepared for the game. They pressured us, but it wasn't a press. It was just us and we're still learning from it."
When Taylor sank Hawaii's second field goal of the opening half, a 3-pointer from the right corner, the Wahine had gone 10:19 without a point of any kind.
After Erica Smith-Taylor swished a short jumper for a 25-7 Tech lead, the Wahine suddenly had a run of good fortune that resulted in nine consecutive points that cut the deficit to 25-16 with 3:44 to go.
"When we started running our half-court offense and took care of the ball, we got some better shots," said Goo. "We started to run a little bit, started pushing the ball up the court and got some fast breaks and easy baskets. We became more aggressive on defense and made a run that got us back in the game, sort of."
Taylor-Smith broke a four-minute Tech dry spell from the field with a baseline jumper with 2:44 remaining to get the lead back into double digits.
A bucket and two free throws by Amber Obaze -- who led Tech with 23 points -- in the final minute helped Tech go the locker room with a 33-21 lead.
The Wahine finished the half with 13 turnovers and made just seven of 26 field-goal attempts (.269). Taylor was 4-for-7 and Abele 3-for-7 from the field while every other UH shooter fired blanks.
The Lady Techsters were guilty of just three turnovers and connected on 15 of 41 attempts from the field (.366).
Obaze had the hot hand early in the second half, scoring nine of Louisiana Tech's first 13 points as the visitors upped their lead to 46-26 with 13:36 left to play.
WAC standings
Yesterday's games
CONFERENCE ALL GAMES W L Pct. W L Pct. Louisiana Tech. 5 1 .833 12 2 .857 Rice 4 1 .800 7 7 .500 Boise St. 3 2 .600 6 8 .429 San Jose St. 3 2 .600 11 3 .786 UTEP 3 2 .600 8 6 .571 SMU 3 3 .500 7 8 .467 Hawaii 2 3 .400 4 10 .286 Tulsa 2 3 .400 9 6 .600 Fresno St. 1 4 .200 7 8 .467 Nevada 1 5 .167 2 14 .125
Rice 76, Tulsa 69
Boise State 89, Nevada 66
UTEP 59, Fresno State 53
San Jose State 64, SMU 59, OT
No. 12 Louisiana Tech 67, Hawaii 50
Louisiana Tech 67, Hawaii 50
BULLDOGS (12-2, 5-1 WAC)
WAHINE (4-10, 2-3 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Barkus 3 6 0 0 17 2 0 6 Johnson 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 Smith-Taylor 5 12 0 0 30 13 3 11 Crain 1 2 0 0 21 7 7 2 Ray-Boyd 0 7 0 0 21 2 1 0 Moore 1 3 0 0 11 5 0 2 Carter 3 5 3 5 22 7 0 9 Obaze 10 21 2 4 32 2 3 23 Thompson 2 2 0 0 9 1 1 4 Kursh 0 1 0 0 5 3 0 0 Frierson 5 14 0 0 27 6 0 10 Team 2 Totals 30 73 5 9 200 50 15 67
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 Taylor 6 12 2 3 26 2 1 16 Abele 6 15 0 0 32 7 2 14 Nishimoto 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 Sanders 0 3 2 2 23 3 0 2 Solia 1 9 0 0 25 1 1 2 Crouch 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 Macfarlane 2 4 1 2 19 4 0 6 Atuaia 0 3 1 2 17 5 2 1 Aiwohi 1 4 2 2 15 4 2 4 Lee 0 1 2 2 15 3 0 2 Grice 1 3 1 1 25 2 1 3 Team 4 Totals 17 57 11 14 200 35 9 50
Halftime -- LaTech 33, Hawaii 21.
3-point goals -- LaTech 2-14 (Smith-Taylor, Obaze), Hawaii 5-11 (Taylor 2, Abele 2, Macfarlane). Personal fouls -- LaTech 18, Hawaii 10. Steals -- LaTech 12 (Smith-Taylor 4, Crain 2, Obaze 2, Frierson 2, Moore, Barkus), Hawaii 7 (Abele 2, Taylor, Crouch, Aiwohi, Lee, Grice). Blocked shots -- LaTech 6 (Smith-Taylor 2, Barkus, Ray-Boyd, Moore, Frierson), Hawaii 3 (Abele, Solia, Macfarlane). Turnovers -- LaTech 16 (Obaze 4, Moore 3, Ray-Boyd 2, Crain 2, Barkus 2, Thompson, Kursh, Frierson), Hawaii 23 (Sanders 5, Atuaia 4, Taylor 3, Abele 3, Macfarlane 3, Grice 3, Aiwohi, Nishimoto).
A -- 775.
