Mustangs surprise
Rainbow Wahine

Never say never.

The Hawaii women's basketball team learned that twice in the past three days.

On Thursday, the Rainbow Wahine upset powerhouse Louisiana Tech for the first time in 15 meetings. Last night, Southern Methodist won for the first time in nine contests in Honolulu.

Led by Janielle Dodds' 18 points, the Mustangs brought the euphoric Wahine back down to earth via a 52-50 win at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The landing was hard.

"They came out and wanted it more than we did," Hawaii senior guard Milia Macfarlane said after tying her career high with 15 points. "Not everyone had heart tonight for us. But give them credit, they came prepared to beat us."

One of the largest crowds of the year (768 turnstile, 1,159 tickets) saw Hawaii seemingly take two steps back after a giant step days earlier.

"We came out and played like a bunch of individuals, not like a team as we did the other night," Hawaii coach Jim Bolla said. "We weren't running our offense.

"We talked about controlling our own destiny, but we're still in the learning process. We had everything in our favor -- they've got nine players, they played an overtime game and lost, they flew on a plane, they've got the flu. We didn't capitalize."

The Wahine fell to 9-10 overall, 5-7 in the Western Athletic Conference. The Mustangs improved to 17-6 and 8-5 in topping Hawaii for only the fourth time in 18 meetings dating back to the 1984-85 season.

And SMU did it with half its roster suffering from flu-like symptoms, with only six players well enough to practice Friday. The Mustangs even left a coach in a hospital in San Francisco when she became too sick to travel.

"This was a game of survival," said SMU coach Rhonda Rhompola, whose team had lost its six previous WAC games here. "I thought both teams seemed very tired. I'm so happy to be leaving the island in a good mood. I've never left the island in a good mood."

The Mustangs did it with a stifling man defense that was called for only five fouls. It tied a WAC record held by Hawaii when the Wahine committed just five fouls in a win over UNLV during the 1996-97 season.

"They weren't giving us our shots," said Wahine junior Amy Sanders.

Sanders, who had a career-high 27 points against LaTech, was held to 10 last night.

Senior Jade Abele also had an off-night, finishing with 10 points, eight in the second half.

SMU controlled the boards early, holding Hawaii to one shot on most possessions. At one point, the Mustangs had a 23-12 edge in rebounds, finishing the first half with a 26-19 margin.

Neither team shot particularly well in the opening 20 minutes. The Wahine hit two of their first four shots in taking an 8-2 lead only to soon go cold.

Hawaii would hit on just four of its next 21 attempts to trail 27-18 at intermission.

The Wahine rallied from a 39-32 deficit to tie it at 39, getting a 3-pointer from Abele, a jumper from Janevia Taylor and a layup by Macfarlane.

Hawaii stayed in the game with three treys, the last by Taylor, which tied it at 50. SMU's Kendall Shead had her layup bounce around the rim before falling in with a minute left for what proved to be the game-winner.

The Wahine had two chances to tie or force overtime, the last when Alofa Toiaivao blocked Shead and Hawaii got possession. The final play was the same one that broke down in the loss to San Jose State but won the LaTech game.

It didn't work last night. When SMU took away Hawaii's first option -- a kickout to the outside -- Macfarlane was left to drive against the taller Mustangs and she was capped as the horn sounded.

Hawaii had a 44-41 rebounding edge, led by Sanders' 11.

WAC standings

	WAC				Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
Louisiana Tech	11	2	.846	--	15	6
Rice	8	4	.667	2 1/2	15	8
San Jose State	8	4	.667	2 1/2	15	7
SMU	8	5	.615	3	17	6
Fresno State	7	6	.538	4	15	7
Tulsa	6	6	.500	4 1/2	14	8
Hawaii	5	7	.417	5 1/2	9	10
UTEP	4	9	.308	7	9	14
Boise State	3	10	.231	8	8	14
Nevada	3	10	.231	8	7	16

Saturday's games (All times Hawaii time)
Louisiana Tech 80, San Jose St. 51
SMU 52, Hawaii 50
Nevada 68, UTEP 62
Rice 61, Tulsa 56
Fresno St. 71, Boise St. 50

SMU 52, Hawaii 50

Mustangs (17-6, 8-5 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Shead	2	9	2	2	38	5	3	6
Gross	1	4	0	0	19	1	0	3
Shepherd	0	0	0	0	4	0	1	0
Cobb	2	4	0	0	36	4	2	4
Roberts	3	9	3	4	15	5	0	9
Dodds	4	12	10	10	25	10	1	18
Greenard	0	4	0	0	23	3	2	0
Davis	5	12	0	0	29	6	1	12
Barker	0	5	0	0	11	4	0	0
TEAM						3
Totals	17	59	15	16	200	41	10	52
Rainbow Wahine (9-10, 5-7 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Taylor	4	16	0	0	40	5	1	9
Abele	3	10	2	4	40	6	2	10
Sanders	3	8	2	2	40	11	2	10
Macfarlane	7	11	0	0	40	3	2	15
Spooner	0	2	0	0	3	2	0	0
Grice	1	7	0	0	20	5	2	2
Toiaivao	2	8	0	2	17	9	2	4
TEAM						4
Totals	20	62	4	8	200	44	11	50

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 -- SMU 27, Hawaii 18.
3-point goals -- SMU 3-12 (Davis 2-5, Gross 1-3, Shead 0-2, Cobb 0-1, Greenard 0-1), Hawaii 6-23 (Sanders 2-4, Abele 2-8, Macfarlane 1-3, Taylor 1-8). Personal fouls -- SMU 5, Hawaii 10. Fouled out -- None.
Steals -- SMU 6 (Dodds 2, Gross, Cobb, Roberts, Davis), Hawaii 6 (Abele 3, Sanders 2, Grice). Blocked shots -- SMU 4 (Shead 2, Cobb, Greenard), Hawaii 6 (Grice 3, Toiaivao 3). Turnovers -- SMU 9 (Shead 2, Gross 2, Davis 2, Cobb, Roberts, Barker), Hawaii 13 (Abele 5, Macfarlane 4, Taylor 2, Sanders, Grice). Officials -- Ensminger, Wells, Foutz. A -- 768.