Wahine open with a victory

The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine won their season-opening basketball game last night for the first time in four years.

The Wahine defeated the Georgetown Hoyas 69-58 in a first-round game in the Waikiki Beach Marriott Classic before a crowd of 533 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawaii (1-0) plays No. 3 Oklahoma (2-0) today at 3 p.m. in the championship game following the third-place meeting between Georgetown (1-1) and Eastern Kentucky (1-1).

"That was interesting. They tried to take it away from us and we tried to give it away. We went from three turnovers in the first half to 19 in the second," UH coach Jim Bolla said.

Senior center Brittany Grice scored seven of UH's first 11 points as the Wahine jumped to an 11-4 advantage with 13:54 left in the opening half.

Bolla had his players employ a 2-2-1 press and that bothered the Hoyas, who were guilty of 11 turnovers in the first half.

The Hoyas did cut the UH lead to 19-14 with 7:54 left in the half when Katrina Wheeler intercepted a cross-court pass and drove the length of the court for a layup.

On the following Wahine possession, Grice sank a short base-line jumper from the left side to ignite a 20-8 run. She would make two more shots from the lane in the sequence.

Janevia Taylor drained a pair of 3-pointers, freshman Megan Tinnin hit another from the right side, freshman Dita Liepkalne connected on a base-line jumper from the right and Pam Tambini sank one of two free throws.

The Wahine took a 39-22 lead into the locker room.

The second half was a struggle for the Wahine, who had problems breaking the Hoyas' full-court press.

"They came out very aggressive and we kind of laid down," Bolla said. "We got tentative with the ball. A lot of it was lack of hustle."

Taylor, who ended up playing point guard because she handled the pressure the best, said, "We had a big lead and kind of relaxed. It threw us off guard. What we needed to do was calm down and see who was open."

No. 3 Oklahoma 92, Eastern Kentucky 79

Courtney Paris scored 24 points, hauled in 16 rebounds and had three assists to pace the Sooners (2-0) in the Classic's opening game. Identical twin Ashley Paris added 14 points and eight rebounds, while Amanda Thompson and Britney Brown each had 10 for the Sooners.

But later in the half, Courtney Paris, a 6-foot-4 sophomore center, broke a 33-33 tie with a layup, two of her 14 first-half points. That ignited a 14-4 Sooner spurt that left them with a 49-37 lead at the half.

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