ASSOCIATED PRESS Hawaii's Alofa Toiaivao fought Nevada for a rebound last night in Reno, Nev. Toiaivao scored 11 points in 29 minutes.

Hawaii big enough,
fast enough to sweep
Nevada

With a chance at a first-round bye in next week's Western Athletic Conference tournament still up for grabs, the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine basketball team didn't need any extra motivation for last night's game in Nevada -- but it got some anyway.

Responding to criticism from the Wolf Pack's leading scorer, Meghan McGuire, that Hawaii's post players were "big and slow," the Wahine held her to just 11 points on 3-for-19 shooting as Hawaii defeated Nevada 62-54 last night before a crowd of 400 at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nev.

Amy Sanders scored a team-high 17 points, and converted six of six free throws in the final minute as Hawaii (11-13, 7-10 WAC) completed a regular-season sweep of the Wolf Pack (7-20, 3-14).

It was not all good news for the Wahine however as Fresno State defeated San Jose State 73-64 in Fresno last night, eliminating any chances for the Wahine to receive a first-round bye in the WAC postseason tournament. The Wahine are likely headed toward a first-round game against this same Wolf Pack team.

"We can only blame ourselves," coach Jim Bolla said. "We had a number of opportunities to get one or two more wins so that we wouldn't be in this position, but we didn't take advantage of it. We have to be responsible for ourselves and just focus on getting ready for Fresno and hopefully gain some momentum heading into the tournament."

Last night's game was a step in the right direction, despite a sloppy first half. The Wahine committed nine of their 14 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and shot just 25 percent, but still held a 19-12 halftime lead, thanks in large part to their defense, which held the Wolf Pack to a woeful 5-for-33 shooting performance.

"We didn't attack their press and just turned the ball over," Bolla said of the first half. "In the second half, we started attacking a bit more, got some easy layups, and then hit our free throws down the stretch that we hadn't been making this season."

Hawaii finished 21-for-26 from the line, knocking down 11 of its 12 in the final 1:16 to seal the game. Jade Abele, after going scoreless in the first half, finished with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Alofa Toiaivao and Brittany Grice, who were the focal point of McGuire's pregame criticism, teamed up for 18 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks.

Hawaii 62, Nevada 54

Rainbow Wahine (11-13, 7-10 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Taylor	4	16	0	0	29	7	1	9
Abele	3	9	5	7	27	5	5	12
Sanders	4	12	7	8	29	7	1	17
Macfarlane	1	1	2	2	34	4	2	5
Grice	2	3	3	3	28	6	1	7
Spooner	0	2	0	0	9	1	1	0
Tambini	0	0	0	0	5	1	0	0
Aiwohi	0	1	1	2	10	1	0	1
Toiaivao	4	10	3	4	29	4	1	11
TEAM						5
Totals	18	54	21	26	200	41	12	62
Wolf Pack (7-20, 3-14 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Graham	3	6	2	2	38	3	4	9
Preslar	0	8	0	0	22	5	4	0
McGuire	3	19	3	5	31	6	0	11
Young	3	5	0	0	33	12	7	7
Franklin	4	12	2	2	34	10	2	10
Anderson	0	1	0	0	9	1	0	0
Bankston	8	14	1	2	29	5	1	17
Massey	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Saltmarsh	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Sitton	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
TEAM						3
Totals	21	65	8	11	200	45	18	54

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 19, Nevada 12.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 5-13 (Sanders 2-3, Macfarlane 1-1, Abele 1-2, Taylor 1-6, Aiwohi 0-1), Nevada 4-11 (McGuire 2-6, Young 1-1, Graham 1-2, Preslar 0-2). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 15, Nevada 22. Fouled out -- McGuire, Franklin.
Steals -- Hawaii 6 (Sanders 2, Toiaivao 2, Taylor, Spooner), Nevada 5 (McGuire 2, Young 2, Preslar). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 7 (Toiaivao 4, Grice 2, Spooner), Nevada 1 (Franklin). Turnovers -- Hawaii 14 (Taylor 3, Macfarlane 3, Grice 2, Abele, Sanders, Tambini, Aiwohi, Toiaivao, TEAM) Nevada 14 (Graham 2, Preslar 2, Young 2, Anderson 2, Bankston 2, TEAM 2, Massey, McGuire). Officials -- Pence, Williams, Foster. A -- 400.

WAC standings

	WAC				Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
Louisiana Tech	14	3	.824	--	18	7
Rice	13	4	.765	1	20	8
SMU	10	7	.588	4	19	8
Tulsa	10	7	.588	4	18	9
San Jose State	9	8	.529	5	16	11
Fresno State	9	8	.529	5	18	9
Hawaii	7	10	.412	7	11	13
UTEP	7	11	.389	7 1/2	12	16
Boise State	4	14	.222	10 1/2	9	18
Nevada	3	14	.176	11	7	20

Yesterday
Hawaii 62, Nevada 54
Fresno St. 73, San Jose St. 64
UTEP 60, Boise St. 53
Tulsa 90, SMU 67
Rice 83, Louisiana Tech 69