[ RAINBOW BASKETBALL ]
Second-half blues
sink Wahine
The Rainbow Wahine basketball team had a shot at an upset before Rice ran off with a 61-56 win last night.
A crowd of 540 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched Hawaii take a halftime lead and play the Western Athletic Conference's top team tough before the Owls prevailed in the end. Rice picked up its third straight win in the series and has won the last three at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Owls improved to 10-7 overall and 7-1 in Western Athletic Conference play. Hawaii dropped to 5-12 and 3-5.
The game was within Hawaii's grasp, but the Rainbow Wahine shooting was suddenly silent in the second half and the Owls found a way to get the ball inside.
"Our defense in the first half was good. We made them shoot from the outside. The second half, they got it into the post a lot," said Hawaii freshman Janevia Taylor, who finished with 15 points. "Their trap threw us off a little bit. They pressured us a little more than in the first half. They made us go out of our offense and we couldn't get shots off our offense."
Sophomore Amy Sanders got half of her points in the second half and chipped in 11 to give Hawaii a lift. Junior Jade Abele added 10 points for Hawaii but didn't get many chances to attack the basket.
"We played much better defense and we got a little more patient," Rice coach Cristy McKinney said. "In the first half, they were shooting free throws because they were being more aggressive. We should be the aggressive team. We're more athletic, but we weren't aggressive.
"We were more aggressive in the second half. (Elisa) Inman and Michelle Woods were huge. We were struggling to make shots and they shot well once we got the ball into them."
Inman scored a season-high 16 points to lead the Owls and Woods finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.
The Owls erased Hawaii's halftime lead by finding the hot hand of Inman, who is still recovering from a broken finger. The senior forward was 4-for-5 from the field in the first half and continued where she left off in the second. Inman's second basket of the half got Rice within 35-34. Woods evened the game at 36 with a turnaround jumper over Abele.
The teams traded baskets before Rice pulled ahead on a 13-4 run. Senior Kate Beckler buried a trey and scored on a reverse layup to start the run. Hawaii went scoreless for too long and Inman buried a trey for a 51-42 lead.
The Rainbow Wahine didn't threaten again.
"They didn't shoot very much better, but they got the ball inside," Hawaii coach Vince Goo said. "We didn't move as quickly as we wanted to. They got some isolation situations on us."
It was a different story in the first half. Taylor scored Hawaii's first two baskets and the Rainbow Wahine never trailed. The Owls didn't have much offense early as they missed their first five shots from the field. Hawaii clogged the lane and forced Rice to launch 3s that didn't drop. McKinney was clearly unhappy with her team's shot selection.
"We were antsy. We took quick 3s," McKinney said. "We're not a 3-point shooting team. We make them when we're much more selective. It's just not our strength."
Hawaii led 14-12 when senior April Atuaia buried a 3-pointer to start an 8-2 run. Every ball the Rainbow Wahine tossed up seemed to go in as Sanders followed with an off-balance jumper that bounced in and then sank the free throw for the three-point play after being fouled.
Rice stayed close with defense before five straight points by Inman cut into the Hawaii lead as the Owls closed to within 25-23. But Atuaia and Taylor added layups for a 29-26 lead at halftime.
Hawaii closes the first half of conference play against Tulsa tomorrow at 7 p.m.
WAC women's standings
Conference All games
Yesterday's games
W L Pct. W L Pct. Louisiana Tech. 7 1 .875 14 2 .875 Rice 7 1 .875 10 7 .588 UTEP 5 3 .625 10 7 .588 Tulsa 5 3 .625 12 6 .667 SMU 4 4 .500 8 9 .471 San Jose St. 3 5 .375 12 5 .706 Boise St. 3 5 .375 6 11 .353 Hawaii 3 5 .375 5 12 .294 Fresno St. 1 7 .125 7 11 .389 Nevada 1 7 .125 2 16 .111
Rice 61, Hawaii 56
Tulsa 82, San Jose St. 66
SMU 54, UTEP 39
Louisiana Tech 95, Boise St. 57
Rice 61, Hawaii 56
Owls (10-7, 7-1 WAC)
WAHINE (5-12, 3-5 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Singleton 0 1 0 0 13 3 0 0 Stovall 1 3 0 0 8 0 0 2 Neaves 1 4 0 0 16 4 0 2 Beckler 3 9 0 0 22 4 3 7 Maynard 2 10 3 4 32 4 2 7 Woods 6 8 3 4 33 9 1 15 Frazier 0 1 0 0 3 0 1 0 Edler 1 3 1 1 20 2 4 3 Inman 7 10 0 0 16 3 0 16 Cunningham 1 6 2 2 22 1 2 4 Peck 1 6 3 4 15 4 0 5 TEAM 6 Totals 23 61 12 15 200 40 13 61
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 15 2 2 34 6 2 15 Abele 2 10 5 6 37 1 1 10 Sanders 4 8 3 3 27 2 2 11 Solia 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 Crouch 0 0 1 2 12 3 0 1 Macfarlane 1 4 2 2 23 4 0 4 Atuaia 2 6 5 6 21 4 2 10 Aiwohi 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Lee 1 2 0 0 13 2 0 2 Grice 1 4 1 4 26 5 0 3 TEAM 6 Totals 17 49 19 25 200 34 7 56
Halftime-Hawaii 29, Rice 26.
3-point goals-- Rice 3-16 (Inman 2, Beckler), Hawaii 3-11 (Taylor, Abele, Atuaia). Personal fouls-- Rice 16, Hawaii 15. Steals-- Rice 4 (Singleton, Beckler, Frazier, Edler); Hawaii 5 (Taylor 2, Abele 2, Grice). Blocked shots-- Rice 4 (Woods 2, Maynard, Neaves); Hawaii 4 (Grice 4); Turnovers-- Rice 9 (Maynard 4, Cunningham 2, Edler, Singleton, Stovall); Hawaii 10 (Taylor 3, Abele 3, Grice 2, Sanders, TEAM). A--540.