Wahine restrain Broncos

SANTA CLARA, Calif. » The Hawaii women's basketball team found success on a nonconference road trip for the first time since the 1993-94 season, winning both games.

Yesterday the Rainbow Wahine (5-2) broke a 60-all tie on a free throw by Amy Sanders with 4:36 to play and held on to beat the Santa Clara Broncos 73-69.

"To win two on the road this early in the year is really good for our program. We had four players score in double figures and it was a game where everyone played well," said Hawaii coach Jim Bolla.

On Thursday, the Rainbow Wahine beat San Francisco 71-63.

Hawaii's defense held the Broncos (2-5) to 13 points below their season average and to seven 3-pointers, four below their season average. The Wahine also held SCU's leading scorer, Michelle Cozad, to seven points and just 1-for-6 from 3-point land.

"We knew they really rushed the ball down the floor looking for a layup or 3-pointer. We also knew from the tapes that if we could force them into a set offense, they would struggle," said Bolla. "By going with our smaller lineup, we switched things and played man-for-man most of the game."

Junior center Brittany Grice led UH by scoring a career-high 20 points, and she corralled a career-high 16 rebounds, nine of them off the offensive boards.

Sanders followed with 17 points, Pam Tambini added 14 and Janevia Taylor had 13, including a crucial free throw with 4.4 seconds left that meant SCU could not force a tie with a trey.

After a timeout, the Broncos got a shot off, a layup that missed, and Dalia Solia pulled down her seventh rebound and got the ball to Taylor as time expired.

Solia played a career-high 34 minutes as Bolla went with a smaller, quicker lineup.

It took time for the Wahine, extremely conscious of Santa Clara's love of the 3-point shot, to adjust defensively, as seven of the first nine SCU baskets were scored on layups. The Broncos held leads of four to six points for the first 12 minutes of the game.

"We were kind of overplaying them. When they penetrated and we rotated (on defense) we weren't able to get the second rotation and gave up some back-door baskets."

Down 20-19 with 7:17 left in the first half, the Wahine went on a 17-5 spurt for a 36-25 lead, but settled for a 36-30 lead at the half as Ashley Graham scored five points just before the break.

The Broncos took brief leads twice in the second half and tied the game at 51 with 11:49 to go. But the Wahine kept hitting key baskets and free throws at the right time to stay ahead, though never by much.

The biggest defensive play came after Cozad sank her only trey with a minute to go to bring the Broncos to within a point, 70-69.

After UH misfired on the offensive end, the Broncos worked the ball upcourt, but Sanders stole Tracey Walker's pass and went the distance for a layup, leaving SCU just 16.4 seconds to answer.