RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Pam Tambini and San Francisco's Dominique Carter fought for a rebound in the first half at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Wahine make it to another final

The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine advanced to their third preseason tournament final and play Oklahoma State in the Bank of Hawaii Invitational championship game tonight at 6 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Wahine (6-5) led all the way to defeat San Francisco 70-49 last night. OSU beat Columbia 86-42 in the opener.

Hawaii lost its two previous title-game appearances this season, to then-No. 3 Oklahoma and Tennessee-Chattanooga.

The Wahine played without senior center and co-captain Brittany Grice. She was held out by coach Jim Bolla as a precaution although she was cleared to play by the UH medical staff. Grice has a herniated disc in her back and will have to deal with it the rest of the season.

"If she is feeling better tomorrow, we'll dress her and make a game-time decision (about her playing)," Bolla said.

The Wahine built a 22-point lead in the first half, then played the Dons even in the second half as Bolla was able to give some reserves playing time.

Seniors Janevia Taylor and Pam Tambini each scored 15 points for UH, while juniors Tanya Smith and Saundra Cariaga accounted for 10 apiece. Eight of Cariaga's points came in a 1:46 span in the second half when she sank three free throws and hit a 3-pointer and a jumper to counter baskets by USF (4-8).

"We shot 64 percent in the first half and it is hard to come back and maintain that pace in the second half," Bolla said. "As long as we maintained that 20-point lead and didn't let them make a run, we were happy with the second half. We were able to get some other people in.

"I was pleased with our points in the paint (a 32-16 UH advantage). It was the result of a couple things. We only ran four plays. We took our time better than in any game this season and we were recognizing the options better.

"Overall the execution was good for this game."

Taylor said each of the four plays has a lot of options.

"We knew we had to go for specific options. Coach wants us to execute. We were patient in the offense tonight," Taylor said. "We mixed up the order of the options to find out how they would play us. Sometimes we would run a play until they actually stopped us, then go to a different option."

The Wahine shot 64 percent (16-for-25) from the field in the first half with the help of numerous fast-break layups to take a 44-22 lead into the locker room.

The Dons, who play Columbia in the third-place game today at 4 p.m., were led by Carter's 10 points.