Wahine start
winning streak

The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine won consecutive Western Athletic Conference games for the first time this season with a 67-55 victory over Boise State last night in front of 743 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Wahine (8-6, 4-3 WAC) took a commanding 35-14 lead at the half and held off the inspired Broncos (6-10, 1-6), who cut the UH advantage in half on several occasions in the second half.

Hawaii's win total equals last year's.

"This weekend was a great week for this team," said co-captain Jade Abele, who had team highs with 12 rebounds and nine assists.

"Our starts have been phenomenal. The buffer (lead at the half) has been great. Now we need to work on coming out strong in the second half. We're playing well and we're beating the presses."

Abele did not score in double figures for the second consecutive game, but that is due to her move to the wing, and other players, like Callie Spooner, have picked up the scoring slack.

"I have the ball in my hands a lot more. A lot of the assists have come in transition because the people at the other end are in the right spot to finish the job," said Abele.

Spooner was 5-for-6 from the field, perfect in four attempts from the charity stripe for 14 points, a career high, and posted career bests for rebounds (six), blocked shots (two) and minutes (28).

"It has been a lot of fun," said Spooner. "I'm in the best shape since I've been here and I'm able to run the floor in transition. I had to be ready for the opportunity when it was given to me and make something of it."

The Wahine missed their first three shots, then got on the board with Amy Sanders' 15-foot jumper from the left side. Milia Macfarlane followed with a short running hook and Brittany Grice hit a jumper in the lane for a 6-2 lead.

Benita Buggs converted two free throws following the first media timeout at 15:40 to cut the Boise State deficit to 6-4.

The Wahine then went on a 15-2 run, with the last three baskets the result of impeccable, fast-break passing that left Abele, Alofa Toiaivao and Spooner to finish easy layups.

The Broncos had gone 6 minutes without scoring before Heather Little broke the dry spell with a layup with 6:45 left in the half. At that point, Boise State had missed all 11 attempts from beyond the arc and had made just two of 24 field-goal attempts, an .083 shooting percentage.

Hawaii continued to dominate and did not allow the Broncos to score consecutive baskets until less than 3 minutes remained in the half.

The Wahine led 35-14 at the break. Boise State's Jamie Hawkins hit her second free throw with 13 seconds left for the 14th point, one more than UH allowed Nevada to score Jan. 1.

The Broncos began the second half with a 12-4 spurt to cut their deficit to 13 points, 39-26. They were aided by the cold-shooting Wahine, who missed their first 10 field-goal attempts.

The first UH field goal of the second half came at the 13-minute mark on a fast-break layup by Sanders off a cross-court pass from Abele.

After Hawkins drew BSU to within 11 points, 47-36, with 10:02 to go, the Wahine put together their own run with 10 consecutive points, started by a Macfarlane free throw. In between two layups by Spooner, Trisha Nishimoto scored five straight points.

"In both games, everything was so easy in the first half. We have to learn that is irrelevant," said UH coach Jim Bolla.

"Pat (Charity, associate coach) did a good job of breaking down the film and we were able to do what we wanted to on defense in the first half. But the Broncos weren't going to quit and they outhustled us for the first 5 minutes of the second half."

Hawaii 67, Boise State 55

Broncos (6-10, 1-6 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Paiz	0	0	0	0	18	2	1	0
Begay	1	7	0	0	9	5	0	2
Ramirez	0	1	0	0	6	0	0	0
Harris	1	7	3	4	22	3	0	5
Stewart	1	6	0	2	25	6	0	2
Lee	1	5	0	0	16	5	1	3
Buggs	4	9	2	3	22	5	0	11
Blaine	3	12	3	5	34	7	2	12
Nakashima	1	7	0	0	10	0	0	3
Hawkins	4	12	7	8	25	8	2	15
Little	1	2	0	0	13	3	0	2
Team						2
Totals	17	68	15	22	200	46	6	55
Rainbow Wahine (8-6, 4-3 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Abele	1	4	6	6	39	12	9	8
Nishimoto	2	6	4	6	11	4	0	8
Sanders	6	12	2	6	37	3	3	17
Cariaga	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Crouch	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Macfarlane	4	11	4	8	29	2	3	13
Spooner	5	6	4	4	28	6	0	14
Grice	1	6	0	2	36	10	2	2
Toiaivao	2	7	1	2	16	7	2	5
Team						4
Totals	21	52	21	34	200	48	19	67

Key -- fg: field goals made; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws made; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes played; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
Halftime -- Hawaii 35, Boise State 14.
3-point goals -- Boise State 6-30 (Blaine 3-10, Buggs 1-3, Lee 1-4, Nakashima 1-6, Ramirez 0-1, Harris 0-2, Begay 0-4), Hawaii 4-12 (Sanders 3-5, Macfarlane 1-4, Nishimoto 0-1, Abele 0-2). Personal fouls -- Boise State 24, Hawaii 19. Fouled out -- Harris. Technical fouls -- Boise State (team), Grice.
Steals -- Boise State 3 (Harris, Hawkins, Paiz), Hawaii 11 (Macfarlane 3, Abele 2, Spooner 2, Crouch, Grice, Sanders, Toiaivao). Blocked shots -- Boise State 1 (Begay), Hawaii 10 (Toiaivao 5, Grice 3, Spooner 2). Turnovers -- Boise State 16 (Hawkins 3, Blaine 2, Buggs 2, Lee 2, Nakashima 2, Paiz 2, Harris, Stewart, team), Hawaii 20 (Abele 4, Grice 4, Macfarlane 3, Spooner 3, Toiaivao 3, Crouch, Nishimoto, Sanders). Officials -- Pence, Wells, Baptista. A -- 1,187.