[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
Rainbow Wahine hold
on to beat Broncos
BOISE, Idaho >> Nothing comes easily for a young basketball team.
Hawaii coach Vince Goo has probably had more hair go gray this season than in the previous five combined. Yesterday Goo saw some of the best and worst from the fourth-youngest team in Division I women's basketball.
The Rainbow Wahine played an inspired first half -- perhaps their best of the season -- and held on when the Broncos charged back in the second half for a 51-44 win yesterday before 957 at Boise State Pavilion.
"Gray (hair) can always be colored black, but if it falls out, it couldn't be replaced," Goo joked. "(Janevia Taylor) had the most outstanding half of anyone all season. The first half, the offense was Nevie. The second half was a good team effort.
"It was a battle the whole second half. They did a good job coming back. ... We knew Boise State was a comeback team. We had a lot of turnovers in the second half, but we knocked down some free throws at the end and managed the clock well."
Taylor scored a career-high 20 points, with 18 coming in the first half. Junior Jade Abele was double-teamed the entire game and managed just six points before fouling out late in the game. Nine of the 10 players who saw action for Hawaii put points on the scoreboard.
The Rainbow Wahine bounced back from a disappointing loss to Texas-El Paso on Thursday to draw a split of their second road trip of the season. Hawaii (5-11, 3-4 WAC) has won all five meetings against the Broncos (6-10, 3-4).
Taylor went on a scoring spree in the opening minutes of the game with 10 points in a row as the Wahine jumped out to a 13-6 lead.
The freshman point guard couldn't miss, as she buried back-to-back 3s and another jumper to lengthen Hawaii's lead to 33-21. The Wahine took a 35-23 lead into halftime. Hawaii shot 50 percent from the field during a brilliant first half, going 14-for-28.
Hawaii cooled off in the second half offensively but played its usual tenacious defense. Boise State shot just 29.3 percent from the field for the game and the WAC's top 3-point-shooting team didn't get many attempts (11) from beyond the arc.
Sophomore Cassidy Blaine had three of the Broncos' four 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 12 points.
Freshman Dalia Solia's jumper gave Hawaii its largest lead at 43-26. But the Broncos took advantage of a five-minute scoring drought and used an 11-2 run to cut the Wahine lead to single digits.
With less than four minutes left in the game, Blaine connected from long range as Boise State closed to within six at 47-41.
Blaine could have made the game more interesting when she got fouled by Abele on her final 3-point attempt. The sophomore had converted 18 of 19 free throws this season but missed her first two before swishing the last one to make the score 49-44.
Senior April Atuaia hit two free throws to put the game out of reach for Boise State. Atuaia didn't start the game but came off the bench to contribute six points. Atuaia and sophomore Amy Sanders were replaced in the starting lineup by Milia Macfarlane and Bryony Crouch.
"We weren't satisfied in our last performance at UTEP, especially in the first half, so we made some changes," Goo said. "It was more that Milia and Bryony deserved to start. That was a good change."
It will be a good flight back to Hawaii for a change. The Wahine return home today and play their next three games at the Stan Sheriff Center. Hawaii faces Rice on Thursday, Tulsa on Saturday and hosts San Jose State the following Friday.
Notes: Roosevelt's Jodi Nakashima played 23 minutes for the Broncos yesterday and had two steals and one assist. ... Hawaii's 39 points in Thursday's loss marked the fewest points scored by the Wahine since an 80-28 loss to San Diego State in 1982.
WAC standings
Yesterday
Conference All games W L Pct. W L Pct. Louisiana Tech. 6 1 .857 13 2 .867 Rice 6 1 .857 9 7 .563 UTEP 5 2 .714 10 6 .625 Tulsa 4 3 .571 11 6 .647 San Jose St. 3 4 .429 12 4 .750 SMU 3 4 .429 7 9 .438 Boise St. 3 4 .429 6 10 .375 Hawaii 3 4 .429 5 11 .313 Fresno St. 1 7 .143 7 11 .389 Nevada 1 7 .143 2 16 .111
Tulsa 70, Fresno St. 60
Hawaii 51, Boise St. 44
Louisiana Tech 88, SMU 52
Rice 78, Nevada 49
UTEP 75, San Jose St. 65
Hawaii 51, Boise State 44
WAHINE (5-11, 3-4 WAC)
BRONCOS (6-10, 3-4 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 3 9 0 0 32 6 3 6 Grice 1 5 2 3 28 12 0 4 Taylor 8 13 0 0 35 2 0 20 Crouch 1 3 0 0 12 1 1 2 Macfarlane 1 4 0 0 25 1 1 3 Sanders 2 2 0 0 11 4 1 4 Solia 1 5 0 0 15 3 0 2 Atuaia 1 5 4 4 26 3 3 6 Aiwohi 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 Lee 2 2 0 0 12 3 0 4 Team 3 Totals 20 48 6 7 200 39 9 51
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 Blaine 4 8 1 3 30 6 0 12 Hawkins 2 4 0 0 12 0 0 4 Little 0 1 0 1 25 2 0 0 Grondin 0 2 0 0 19 1 1 0 Nakashima 0 2 0 0 23 2 2 0 Paiz 0 4 1 2 21 1 0 1 Begay 2 5 0 0 17 0 0 4 Ramirez 2 7 6 7 31 5 2 11 Hill 1 2 2 3 7 1 0 4 Hessing 1 6 6 10 15 4 0 8 Team 2 Totals 12 41 16 26 200 24 5 44
Halftime -- Hawaii 35, BSU 23.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 5-17 (Taylor 4, Macfarlane), BSU 4-11 (Blaine 3, Ramirez). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 21, BSU 13. Steals -- Hawaii 6 (Abele 2, Atuaia 2, Solia, Lee), BSU 12 (Ramirez 4, Hessing 3, Blaine, Hawkins, Little, Grondin, Nakashima). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 1 (Grice), BSU 0. Turnovers -- Hawaii 20 (Abele 6, Grice 4, Taylor 3, Macfarlane 2, Sanders 2, Solia 2, Atuaia), BSU 13 (Nakashima 4, Blaine 3, Hessing 2, Hawkins, Paiz, Ramirez, Hill).
A -- 957.