Hawaii's Trisha Nishimoto put up a shot under defensive pressure from Santa Clara's Ashley Gonnerman, 21, as teammate Amy Sanders looked on.
Santa Clara runs
Hawaii ragged
The spirited 2004-05 debut of the Hawaii women's basketball team ended up being a 75-68 loss to Santa Clara in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic before a turnstile crowd of 955 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawaii will play former Western Athletic Conference rival Utah in a consolation bracket game at 1:10 p.m. today. Santa Clara meets No. 13 Michigan State at 3:20 p.m.
The Rainbow Wahine trailed at the half 45-37 and found themselves down 51-39 barely 3 minutes into the second half. That is when a 3-pointer by Amy Sanders ignited a 24-8 burst that put UH ahead 63-59 with 7:16 left in the game. But after scoring nine unanswered points, Hawaii only managed to score on a three-point play by Brittany Grice and Jade Abele's rebound and layup at the 1:54 mark the remainder of the game.
"That swing shows what we are capable of doing, but you would think with 63 points and 7 minutes to play that we would score in the 80s," UH coach Jim Bolla said. "It wasn't from lack of trying at the end. We had plenty of shots, sometimes two and three, but couldn't get it to go down."
After Abele's bucket, the Broncos retook the lead for good on a jumper by Kasey Monteith. Quinn Thomas hit a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left and UH had to foul after that but was unsuccessful.
Abele, who was frustrated at her own performance that included seven turnovers, said, "I think we were not getting that force down the middle to draw the defenses in. We did a great job pushing the ball up the sides. I know I should have been running the floor better than I did."
Point guard Milia Macfarlane said, "It is obvious that when we execute well we can score easily. The dry spells may be because of shot selection, not enough rebounders or the players not feeling comfortable."
The Wahine opened the game with 6-2 and 6-3 runs against Santa Clara's full-court press, but the Broncos countered with an 8-3 spurt to make the score 15-13 UH with 11:11 left in the half.
A jumper from the right side and a trey from the top of the key by Dalia Solia, just into the game, sparked a 9-4 UH response that put the Wahine ahead 24-17 with 8 minutes left. However, from then until halftime, the Wahine managed 13 points as they slipped to 4-for-11 from the field while the Broncos found great success from 3-point land.
Using quick passes around the perimeter, Santa Clara was able to free up shooters for good, open looks and knocked down six of nine attempts from beyond the arc to catch the Wahine and take a 45-37 lead at intermission.
Tracey Walker, a freshman guard, hit all three of her 3-point attempts during the Santa Clara rally.
"They were a great bunch of passers with their four-guard front. All of them can shoot the 3s and they crashed the board," said Abele.
Bolla credited SCU coach Michelle Bento-Jackson with making the adjustment to free up her shooters.
"We told our kids that some of their players had unlimited range," said Bolla. "I waited too long to make an adjustment. We went to our amoeba defense in the second half and had more success."
Bolla was pleased with the execution of his up-tempo offense at times but says the spurts have to be sustained longer.
"We're going to keep going with what we have. I'm asking a lot of the players and they are trying to do what I ask.
"We shot 50 percent from the field and got 50 rebounds. We could have done better at the free-throw line, but that wasn't the difference in the game. We panicked a bit at the end with a couple of turnovers."
Abele's 13 points led UH. Ashley Graham paced Santa Clara (1-1) with 18 points.
The Broncos' 13 3-pointers is a tournament single-game record and a UH opponent single-game mark.
No. 3 Georgia 77, Idaho 55
The Lady Bulldogs (3-0) built a 22-5 lead in the first 7 minutes, led 43-19 at the half and cruised into a semifinal-round matchup with Texas Christian today at 5:30 p.m.Freshman center Tasha Humphrey scored eight of Georgia's 13 points and was unstoppable in and around the lane, scoring 10 points in 9 minutes. She finished with 18.
A 14-2 run to start the second half -- with Cori Chambers, a sophomore guard who also had 18 points, sinking two 3-pointers -- left the Lady Dogs with a comfortable 36-point lead.
Sophomore guard Leilani Mitchell led the Vandals (2-1) with 18 points.
Texas Christian 96, California 89
Sandora Irvin completed a three-point play with a free throw to break a 70-70 tie with 6:49 left to play. The senior forward sank two more free throws a minute later for a five-point TCU lead and the Lady Frogs (3-1) converted 13 of 16 charity tosses down the stretch to hold off the Golden Bears (1-1).California rallied from a 13-point deficit with 6 minutes to go in the first half behind the shooting of senior forward Leigh Gregory (12 points) and senior guard Kristin Iwanaga (10 points) to take a 39-38 lead at the break.
The Lady Frogs, who had to forsake the full-court press in the first half due to excessive fouls, used the tactic successfully in the second half to rally.
Irvin led all scorers with 27 points. Teammate Adrianne Ross added 23. Gregory finished with 25 points for Cal.
Idaho and California start today's action with a consolation-bracket game at 11 a.m.
No. 13 Michigan State 56, Utah 54
Two crucial baskets and two free throws by senior guard Kristin Haynie in the final seconds lifted the Spartans (3-0) to a victory over the upset-minded Utes (1-2).MSU held a 12-point lead early in the second half, then watched it dissipate as Utah came back to take a 51-48 lead.
A basket by Liz Shimek and Haynie's driving layup put the Spartans up 52-51 with 2 minutes left.
The Utes missed two chances on shots in the lane to regain the lead as the final minute approached. MSU rebounded the second miss and Haynie was fouled while shooting. She made both free throws for a 54-51 lead only to have Utah's Marie Warner hit a 3-pointer with 8.8 seconds left to tie the score.
Haynie took the inbound pass the length of the court and scored on a driving layup from the right side with 2.2 ticks on the clock to give MSU the win.
Shimek led the Spartans with 15 points while Warner topped Utah with 12.
Santa Clara 75, Hawaii 68
Broncos (1-1, 1-0 RWC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Cronk 2 4 2 4 19 4 2 7 Cozad 3 11 0 0 34 5 0 7 Walker 3 5 0 0 15 0 1 9 Gonnerman 3 9 2 2 17 5 1 8 Graham 6 10 2 2 35 6 4 18 Markey 0 4 1 2 13 2 1 1 Monteith 3 4 0 0 10 4 1 6 Thomas 5 15 3 4 34 8 4 16 Kimyacioglu 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 Huss 1 7 0 0 21 3 3 3 Team 1 Totals 26 70 10 14 200 38 17 75 Wahine (0-1, 0-1 RWC) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Taylor 6 14 0 0 33 6 4 12 Abele 5 9 2 2 29 6 3 13 Nishimoto 2 4 0 0 11 1 0 4 Sanders 2 7 1 2 26 10 3 7 Solia 2 4 0 0 21 6 1 5 Macfarlane 3 5 2 2 31 3 1 9 Spooner 0 1 0 0 6 0 1 0 Grice 4 13 2 5 30 8 0 10 Toiaivao 3 10 2 4 13 7 1 8 Team 3 Totals 27 67 9 15 200 50 14 68 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 -- SCU 45, Hawaii 37.
3-point goals -- SCU 13-35 (Graham 4-7, Walker 3-4, Thomas 3-11, Cronk 1-3, Cozad 1-4, Huss 1-4, Gonnerman 0-1, Kimyacioglu 0-1), Hawaii 5-10 (Sanders 2-3, Macfarlane 1-1, Abele 1-2, Solia 1-2, Taylor 0-1, Nishimoto 0-1). Personal fouls -- SCU 15, Hawaii 11.
Steals -- SCU 7 (Thomas 3, Cronk, Cozad, Markey, Monteith), Hawaii 5 (Taylor, Abele, Sanders, Solia, Macfarlane). Blocked shots -- SCU 2 (Gonnerman, Thomas), Hawaii 6 (Grice 4, Abele, Toiaivao). Turnovers -- SCU 11 (Walker 2, Graham 2, Markey 2, Thomas 2, Cronk, Cozad, Huss), Hawaii 19 (Abele 7, Taylor 3, Nishimoto 2, Solia 2, Macfarlane 2, Toiaivao 2, Sanders). Officials -- Wells, Davis, Apo. A -- 955.
