FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Alofa Toiaivao looked for an opening as Fresno State's Amy Parrish defended last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

WAC opener unkind
to Wahine

The Fresno State Bulldogs overcame a slow start with tremendous team quickness and physical domination of the boards to defeat Hawaii 70-48 last night in the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball opener for both teams.

Fresno State (9-1, 1-0 WAC) eased ahead by seven points at the half, increased the lead to double digits early in the second half and maintained a safe margin to the end in front of 552 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The 42 points by the Wahine (4-4, 0-1) was the lowest total of the season for Hawaii. No Wahine scored in double figures.

"We just got our butts kicked. It's real simple. Their hearts were bigger than our hearts tonight," said UH coach Jim Bolla.

"The Bulldogs did everything we told our players they would do and we watched. When they cut through the lanes, we watched. When we cut through the lanes, they put bodies on us."

The teams raced up and down the court for the opening 5 minutes with marginal success at putting the ball in the bucket, leaving the score tied at 4-4 at the 15:16 mark.

Not much changed for the next 5 minutes for Fresno State, but the Wahine fared slightly better from the field and took a 16-10 lead with 9:44 left in the half.

Alofa Toiaivao hit a reverse layup, Amy Sanders took a feed from Janevia Taylor and put the ball in from the right side, Toiaivao sank one free throw and Taylor hit a jumper from the left side.

Veronica Mack cut the FSU deficit to four points (16-12) with 8 minutes remaining, but at that point the Bulldogs were shooting just 24 percent (6-for-25) from the field. They improved considerably the rest of the half (5-for-9, .556) and put a 14-4 run together to take a 29-22 halftime lead.

Hawaii cooled off from the field during the FSU spurt, only hitting three of 10 field-goal attempts. The Wahine also were without leading scorer Jade Abele, who was on the bench with two fouls for the final 11:22 of the half.

"They executed their offense very well. Their press was effective because we didn't attack with the idea of getting layups. We just wanted to break the press," said Bolla.

The Bulldogs continued their hot shooting to start the second half, outscoring UH 14-4 in the first 5 minutes for a 40-26 lead. Aiea graduate Aritta Lane sparked FSU with five points and Mack had two baskets.

Any Wahine thoughts of a big-time rally vanished as FSU outscored UH 22-11 during the last 10 minutes of the game.

"They physically pushed us under the basket, offensively and defensively. We were throwing up air balls on layups because we expected to get bumped. But they bumped us on the way to the basket, not when we were shooting," said Bolla.

The Wahine went to the free-throw line four times, all in the first half, and made just one try. They were outrebounded 47-32 and 15 of FSU's boards were at the offensive end.

"We have to go back to basics and get ready for Nevada," said Bolla.

UH plays Nevada tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Fresno State 70, Hawaii 48

Bulldogs (9-1, 1-0 WAC)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Green	1	5	1	2	16	3	2	3
Wilson	0	5	0	0	19	3	3	0
Perera	2	10	2	2	30	5	2	7
Mack	2	3	0	0	9	2	2	4
Lane	5	7	1	2	30	5	1	12
Moore	0	1	1	2	12	4	0	1
Parrish	5	12	1	2	25	9	2	11
Swearengin	5	8	2	2	23	4	5	14
Atherley	1	1	0	0	9	0	0	3
Plummer	2	3	0	0	13	3	1	4
Probst	1	3	3	3	7	3	0	5
Walker-Roche	2	3	0	0	7	1	2	6
TEAM						5
Totals	26	61	11	15	200	47	20	70
Rainbow Wahine (4-4, 0-1 WAC)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Taylor	4	10	0	1	29	8	3	8
Abele	3	11	0	0	25	1	2	7
Nishimoto	2	4	0	1	9	0	0	5
Sanders	1	5	0	0	30	1	4	2
Solia	2	3	0	0	15	1	0	4
Crouch	0	1	0	0	4	1	0	0
Macfarlane	4	10	0	0	35	4	1	9
Smith	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0
Tambini	0	2	0	0	4	1	1	0
Grice	4	8	0	0	25	8	1	8
Toiaivao	2	12	1	2	20	3	1	5
TEAM						4
Totals	22	66	1	4	200	32	13	48

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--Fresno State 29, Hawaii 22.
3-point goals--Fresno St. 7-19 (Swearengin 2-2, Walker-Roche 2-3, Atherley 1-1, Lane 1-2, Perera 1-7, Mack 0-1, Wilson 0-3) Hawaii 3-14 (Nishimoto 1-1, Macfarlane 1-3, Abele 1-3, Sanders 0-1, Solia 0-1, Crouch 0-1, Tambini 0-1, Taylor 0-3). Personal fouls--Fresno St. 14, Hawaii 14.
Steals--Fresno St. 6 (Perera 2, Parrish 2, Mack, Plummer), Hawaii 10 (Macfarlane 4, Sanders 2, Taylor, Abele, Solia, Toiaivao). Blocked shots--Fresno St. 4 (Probst, Plummer, Mack, Parrish), Hawaii 6 (Grice 4, Toiaivao 2). Turnovers--Fresno St. 19 (Swearengin 5, Perera 3, Green 2, Lane 2, Moore 2, Parrish 2, Plummer 2, Walker-Roche), Hawaii 16 (Macfarlane 4, Sanders 3, Grice 2, Taylor 2, Abele 2, Nishimoto, Solia, Toiaivao). Officials--Eric Larson, Carla Fujimoto, Kent Johnson. Attendance--552.