[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
Rice hands Rainbow
Wahine another defeat
HOUSTON >> It could have been one of Hawaii coach Vince Goo's sweetest wins.
The Rainbow Wahine had gone 0-5 at Rice and lost six of the last seven games to the Owls. In Goo's final trip to Autry Court, Hawaii came heartbreakingly close, but Rice relied on its strengths to rally for a 58-56 win.
It was the 12th straight victory for the Owls (18-7, 15-1 Western Athletic Conference) and it kept them in contention for a WAC regular-season title as they head into a showdown at Louisiana Tech in the final week of conference play.
Hawaii (7-18, 5-11) had a chance to slide into a tie for the coveted sixth place with San Jose State, which lost earlier in the day to Tulsa.
"We told our players, they got senior night. They have a lot of pressure on them," Goo said. "This is the championship game for them because if they don't win it, whatever chances they got for the WAC title are gone.
"We were going to go out, play hard and have some fun. ... I told our players I knew they were going to play hard. I'm just not sure how well we were going to play, but we played well."
Hawaii played well enough to win, but Rice's full-court press kept the Wahine from scoring a field goal over the final three minutes and ultimately the Rainbow Wahine couldn't overcome the Owls' four seniors, in particular Lindsey Maynard.
The 5-foot-10 guard broke Hawaii's heart again. Maynard had only eight points in the game, but her final four mattered the most. Her layup with 58.4 seconds left tied the game at 56-56. Maynard sandwiched two free throws around a timeout 30 seconds later to give Rice the win.
"She made a good move to the basket, good baseline drive. She's done it before," Goo said. "She's a very good player. That's why we recruited her."
Maynard said no to Hawaii four years ago and has been torturing the Rainbow Wahine ever since. Two years ago as a sophomore, Maynard hit the winning layup at the buzzer as Rice escaped Hawaii with a win. Last year at Autry Court, Maynard drained a 3-pointer with Rice protecting a 51-50 lead with 20 seconds left in the game.
Her final free throws yesterday didn't spell doom for the Rainbow Wahine. Hawaii had one more chance to tie the game, but freshman Lauren Neaves stuffed freshman Pam Tambini (seven points) twice to hold on for the win. Neaves (seven points, five rebounds) had five of Rice's eight rejections.
Michelle Woods led the Owls with 16 points.
Freshman Brittany Grice led Hawaii with 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Jade Abele added 10 points.
In a game similar to their last meeting, Hawaii attacked the basket early and opened a 14-4 advantage over Rice. But the Owls' offense got going after their defense forced turnovers on several Hawaii possessions. Rice led 28-25 at the intermission.
Hawaii quickly regained the lead with a 16-4 run to start the second half.
"We played good, smart defense," Goo said. "We didn't allow them to do the things they liked to do, which is drive baseline. We made them work in the half court. We got a bunch of steals (12) off them and we worked our offense. We went out to a nine-point lead with about 10 minutes left in the game."
But Rice whittled away the Wahine lead with Abele and Grice on the bench with three fouls apiece. Senior Elisa Inman (15 points) delivered every big basket the Owls needed to stay close before Maynard took over.
"At the four-minute mark, I told the referees: 'Don't take the game away from my kids. Call it as you see it,' " Goo said. "I can't be prouder of our kids. We've had some games that we've lost and we're real proud of their effort. This is top of the year.
"This is one of Rice's best teams and this is our youngest team that came in here. This is the closest we've ever come to getting a win playing at Rice. That has to say something for their effort. We have never played this well and this close. ... It's not a moral victory. It's just something to build on."
Hawaii returns today. The Rainbow Wahine play their final WAC games against Nevada (Thursday) and Fresno State (Saturday). The Rainbow Wahine will honor senior April Atuaia against the Bulldogs.
Any former Rainbow Wahine interested in attending Goo's last home game can call 956-4325 for a ticket for themselves and a friend.
WAC women's standings
Thursday
Conference All games W L Pct. W L Pct. Louisiana Tech 15 1 .938 22 2 .917 Rice 15 1 .938 18 7 .720 Tulsa 10 6 .625 17 9 .654 SMU 9 7 .563 13 12 .520 UTEP 9 8 .529 14 12 .538 San Jose St. 6 10 .375 14 11 .560 Fresno St. 5 11 .313 11 15 .423 Hawaii 5 11 .313 7 18 .280 Boise St. 5 12 .294 8 18 .308 Nevada 2 14 .125 3 23 .115
Tulsa 68, Hawaii 57
Boise State 76, SMU 57
Rice 64, San Jose St. 44
Louisiana Tech 83, UTEP 60Yesterday
Louisiana Tech 80, Boise State 48
Fresno State 63, Nevada 44
Tulsa 66, San Jose St. 56
Rice 58, Hawaii 56
SMU 52, UTEP 45
Rice 58, Hawaii 56
Wahine (7-18, 5-11 wac)
Owls (18-7, 15-1 wac)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Abele 4 7 2 3 20 3 0 10 Grice 5 6 5 6 27 4 0 15 Taylor 1 13 4 4 28 4 0 6 Sanders 1 6 2 2 26 4 1 4 Tambini 3 13 1 2 33 5 5 7 Nishimoto 0 1 0 0 5 1 0 0 Solia 1 3 0 0 18 2 1 2 Macfarlane 0 1 0 0 7 0 1 0 Atuaia 4 6 1 2 23 2 0 9 Spooner 1 1 1 1 13 4 0 3 Team 6 Totals 20 57 13 15 200 35 8 56
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 Neaves 3 8 1 3 24 8 0 7 Woods 5 8 6 6 22 6 2 16 Singleton 3 5 1 3 32 4 4 7 Maynard 3 10 2 2 35 5 2 8 Cunningham 1 3 0 0 11 2 3 2 Stovall 0 0 1 2 4 2 0 1 Beckler 0 3 0 0 17 0 0 0 Frazier 0 2 0 0 10 0 0 0 Jeffries 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 Elder 0 1 0 0 9 0 1 0 Inman 7 11 0 0 25 3 0 15 Peck 1 1 0 0 7 1 0 2 Team 4 Totals 23 52 11 16 200 35 12 58
Halftime -- Rice 28, Hawaii 25.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 3-9 (Abele 2-3, Atuaia 1-2, Taylor 0-3, Tambini 0-1), Rice 1-10 (Inman 1-2, Maynard 0-3, Beckler 0-2, Elder 0-1, Frazier 0-1, Woods 0-1). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 16, Rice 14.
Steals -- Hawaii 12 (Taylor 5, Macfarlane 3, Grice, Sanders, Spooner, Tambini), Rice 6 (Neaves 2, Singleton 2, Cunningham, Peck). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 2 (Grice, Spooner), Rice 8 (Neaves 5, Beckler, Peck, Maynard). Turnovers -- Hawaii 12 (Abele 2, Atuaia 2, Taylor 2, Sanders 2, Grice, Tambini, Solia, Spooner), Rice 15 (Neaves 3, Maynard 3, Cunningham 2, Woods 2, Beckler, Peck, Frazier, Singleton, Stovall). Officials -- Larson, Ensminger, Ramsey. A -- 714.
