Rainbow Wahine return
to court after long hiatus

The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine play two teams, Southeast Missouri State and Brigham Young, each with a single defeat, in the Waikiki Beach Marriott Invitational basketball tournament this week.

Waikiki Beach Marriott Invitational Schedule: Tomorrow, Hawaii vs. Southeast Missouri State, 7 p.m. Friday, Brigham Young vs. Southeast Missouri State, 7 p.m. Saturday, Hawaii vs. Brigham Young, 4 p.m. Where: Stan Sheriff Center. TV: UH vs. SE Missouri St. live, KFVE, Channel 5. Radio: Both UH games live, KKEA, 1420-AM. Tickets: All seats general admission. $8 adults, $7 seniors. UH students with valid ID, children ages 4-18 free. Parking: $3. Notes: This is the first meeting between Hawaii and SE Missouri State. UH holds 6-4 series advantage with BYU. ... Wahine redshirt freshman guard Shannon Nishi is out indefinitely with viral meningitis.

The Wahine have not played for nine days, but have used the time to continue learning coach Jim Bolla's system. Nothing new has been added since the season-opening tournament Thanksgiving week.

"We really need to execute what we have, run things well, make our cuts, set good picks, fine tune everything" said Bolla. "Right now were averaging 61 points a game. When we execute well, that will pick up another 10-15 points a game."

Southeast Missouri State's (4-1) only loss was in its season opener to Oklahoma, 84-62. The Otahkians beat Lyon, Texas Southern, Illinois-Chicago and Southern Illinois in their next four games.

A member of the Ohio Valley Conference, SEMS has three players averaging in double figures, Tatiana Conceicao (21.2 points per game), Natalie Purcell (14.2) and Brandi Russia (11.4). Conceicao and Purcell are two of the six junior college transfers coach B.J. Smith brought in this year.

"Southeast Missouri is really athletic. They like to score (84.2 points per game), they will press, full-court, half-court and they like to trap and use the jump switch with their guards. They have good size and will be a good test for us," said Bolla.

"Their press will be good for us. I want teams to press us. I think we can be real effective against the press. And, I don't want to just break the press, but get down and make a layup. If there is no layup, then we want time to run the set offense, not be left with 10 seconds which is what our defense tries to leave opponents with."

The Wahine had their best success against a press in the California game, their one win this year.

Brigham Young (4-1) rallied in the second half to edge George Washington 76-70 Monday. The Cougars had five players in double figures, led by Ambrosia Anderson's 19 points.

"BYU is always a solid team in the top half of the Mountain West Conference," said Bolla. "We need to just worry about one opponent at a time. We'll worry about the Cougars after we see them play."

The Wahine have continued to work on blocking out under the basket at both ends to keep Bolla's goal of 50 rebounds a game within reach. They are averaging 35.3 per game.

"We don't have a physical player to go get the ball any time you want it," said Bolla. "We need four people to block out. That leaves one to get the ball. Right now we have a tendency to get pushed too far under the basket. All you can do there is catch the ball when it drops through the net. We also have to block out further out on 3-point shots because the rebounds are longer."

The Wahine have two players averaging in double figures, Jade Abele (17.3 ppg) and Alofa Toiaivao (11.0 ppg).

Hawaii has won this tournament five times in nine years. The last win came in 2002.