Abele injured in UH’s
loss to Fresno State

If Hawaii's fortunes in the WAC women's basketball tournament hinge on Jade Abele, the Wahine might want to make some plans to return early from Reno, Nev., this week.

Abele, UH's best all-around player, suffered an injury to her left knee during UH's 64-48 regular-season-ending loss at Fresno State yesterday. An initial evaluation indicated possibly a torn meniscus, "or it may be more than that, it may be an anterior cruciate ligament (tear)," Hawaii coach Jim Bolla said.

An MRI was planned for last night when the Wahine arrived in Reno at the conclusion of a 5-hour bus ride from Fresno, Calif., where the Bulldogs bushwhacked the Abele-less Wahine 40-24 in the second half.

UH (seventh place) plays Nevada (tenth) on Tuesday in the tournament's play-in round, and after yesterday's game, Bolla was planning as if the senior forward from Australia would not be available.

"We will have to wait and see how she responds, but I'm not counting on her being available to play unless the MRI comes back and there's nothing there," Bolla said.

Bolla said Alofa Toiaivao, Amber Lee, Brittney Aiwohi and Pam Tambini are among the candidates to start against Nevada if Abele can't play.

The loss of Abele after 8 minutes wasn't UH's only problem. The Bulldogs (19-9, 10-8 WAC) took advantage of a season-high 25 turnovers by Hawaii (11-14, 7-11).

"The turnovers just killed us. We just threw the ball away, unforced errors. We had passes not even close to our players, right to defending players. That really hurt us."

Bolla also said Fresno State attacked the middle of UH's defense effectively.

"They really like to penetrate and we couldn't stop them," he said.

Janevia Taylor scored 14 to lead Hawaii and Amy Sanders added 11.

Amy Parrish led FSU with 20 points, seven assists and nine rebounds. Aiea High School graduate Aritta Lane added 19 points, and Mirenda Swearengin scored 17.

Fresno State 64, Hawaii 48

Rainbow Wahine (11-14, 7-11 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Abele	0	2	0	0	8	1	0	0
Sanders	4	15	2	2	37	7	1	11
Grice	2	6	0	0	25	8	1	4
Taylor	5	12	1	3	34	5	2	14
Macfarlane	1	3	0	0	23	2	2	2
Cariaga	0	0	0	0	6	0	3	0
Crouch	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0
Smith	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Spooner	1	2	0	0	2	0	0	2
Tambini	0	0	3	6	16	3	0	3
Aiwohi	0	4	0	0	6	1	0	0
Lee	2	2	2	4	16	2	0	6
Toiaivao	3	10	0	1	23	5	0	6
TEAM						4
Totals	18	56	8	16	200	38	10	48
Bulldogs (19-9, 10-8 wac)
	fg	fga	ft	fta	min	reb	a	tp
Lane	7	10	4	6	36	5	0	19
Parrish	6	15	7	8	33	9	7	20
Mack	0	2	0	0	17	2	2	0
Moore	0	1	0	0	9	2	1	0
Swearengin	6	12	2	2	33	7	5	17
Lopez	0	1	0	0	3	1	0	0
Green	0	0	2	2	3	0	0	2
Wilson	0	2	0	0	17	3	0	0
Diggs	0	2	0	0	4	1	0	0
Perera	1	8	2	2	22	3	1	4
Henry	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Atherley	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0
Plummer	1	3	0	0	15	2	0	2
Probst	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0
Walker-Roche	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0
TEAM						4
Totals	21	57	17	20	200	41	17	64

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 24, FSU 24.
3-point goals -- Hawaii 4-12 (Taylor 3-6, Sanders 1-5, Aiwohi 0-1), FSU 5-11 (Swearengin 3-3, Lane 1-1, Parrish 1-2, Mack 0-1, Moore 0-1, Wilson 0-1, Perera 0-1, Walker-Roche 0-1). Personal fouls -- Hawaii 15, FSU 17. Fouled out -- Toiaivao.
Steals -- Hawaii 11 (Sanders 2, Taylor 2, Tambini 2, Toiaivao 2, Macfarlane, Crouch, Spooner), FSU 15 (Parrish 6, Swearengin 4, Lane 2, Perera 2, Probst). Blocked shots -- Hawaii 3 (Grice, Lee, Toiaivao), FSU 2 (Plummer 2). Turnovers -- Hawaii 25 (Taylor 5, Toiaivao 5, Grice 3, Macfarlane 3, Sanders 2, Aiwohi 2, Lee 2, Abele, Cariaga, Tambini) FSU 21 (Swearengin 5, Lane 3, Lopez 3, Parrish 2, Perera 2, Plummer 2, Mack, Green, Diggs, Walker-Roche). Officials -- Larson, Krzesnik, Plutt. A -- 3,632.

WAC Standings

	WAC				Overall
	W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L
Rice	14	4	.778	--	21	8
Louisiana Tech	14	4	.778	--	18	8
Tulsa	11	7	.611	3	19	9
SMU	10	8	.556	4	19	9
Fresno State	10	8	.556	4	19	9
San Jose State	10	8	.556	4	17	11
UTEP	7	11	.389	7	12	16
Hawaii	7	11	.389	7	11	14
Boise State	4	14	.222	10	9	18
Nevada	3	15	.167	11	7	21

Yesterday
Fresno St. 64, Hawaii 48
Tulsa 74, Louisiana Tech 70
San Jose St. 65, Nevada 49
Rice 53, SMU 50