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Hawaii Beat
Star-Bulletin staff
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Kotani leads Wahine past Grambling
Led by senior guard Amy Kotani's 14 second-half points, the Hawaii women's basketball team defeated Grambling 71-53 in the consolation game of the Women of Troy Classic last night in Los Angeles.
Tied 34-34 at halftime, the Rainbow Wahine (5-6) went on an 18-0 run in the second half to pull away from the Tigers (1-10) at the Galen Center.
The 14 points was a career high for Kotani, who also had five steals, four rebounds and three assists. In her first career start, junior forward Ebony Jones responded with a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds).
"Amy really gave us a spark to start the second half," Wahine coach Jim Bolla said. "I thought we did a much better job in the second half with the turnovers and that helped us pull away."
Senior guard Saundra Cariaga led Hawaii with 15 points and senior forward Tanya Smith finished with her seventh double-double of the season (13 points, 13 rebounds) and senior center Iwona Zagrobelna added 10 points.
Whitney Brown and Gabrielle Fleming each had 11 points for Grambling.
Hawaii returns home to host the Bank of Hawaii Invitational next Friday and Saturday. William & Mary takes on Iona in the 5 p.m. opener followed by the Wahine against UC Irvine at 7 p.m.
Beckham, Ching in tournament
Tickets are on sale for the Pan-Pacific Championship, an international soccer tournament that is scheduled to feature stars David Beckham of England, Hawaii's Brian Ching and Satoshi Yamaguchi from Japan.
The four-team event is scheduled for Feb. 20 and 23 at Aloha Stadium. Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster locations (877-750-4400) or the Aloha Stadium box office (486-9300).
The invited clubs are reigning MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo, J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup Champion Gamba Osaka, the Los Angeles Galaxy (with Beckham), and a team from Australia.
» Cobi Jones of the Los Angeles Galaxy will join Ching for the 10th ProXtreme Soccer Camp next week at Waialae Iki Field.
Other pro players involved are Clint Mathis (Galaxy), Duke Hashimoto (Real Salt Lake) and Ted Eck (Dallas Burn).
The camp, which runs from Wednesday through Saturday, is open to players ages 6 to 14. The cost is $250.
» Mathis, Hashimoto and Kenji Treschuk (Seattle Sounders) are the featured clinicians at the Jan. 1-3 camp at Kilauea Farms on Kauai. This camp is for ages 8 to 15 and costs $150.
For more information, call Luke Baer at 561-4663. Registration is available online at Web site is www.hawaiisoccercamps.com.
» Hawaii junior Tehane Higa was named to the Soccer Buzz All-Region third team yesterday, becoming only the third Rainbow Wahine to earn all-region honors
Higa joins striker Natasha Kai, a two-time selection (2003-04), and goalie Amanda Paterson (1996) as UH's all-region honorees. Higa anchored a defense that turned in a school-record 12 shutouts and won both the Western Athletic Conference regular-season and WAC tournament titles.
Arts, Seawolves edge Vulcans
Carl Arts scored 26 points and Alaska-Anchorage hit 12 3-points to edge host Hawaii-Hilo 73-72 in a non-conference men's basketball game last night at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
Rashad Bilal led the Vulcans (3-4) with 17 points and John Smith added 10. Hilo made just 22 of its 31 free-throw attempts.
» In the women's game played earlier at the Civic, Maria Nilsson hit five consecutive 3-pointers midway through the second half to help No. 4 Alaska-Anchorage to a 72-60 victory over Hawaii-Hilo.
Nilsson finished with a game-high 23 points for the Seawolves (11-1).
The Vulcans (0-7) got 10 points and six assists from Ashley Kualii.
» Blakelee Midyett came off the bench for a team-high 11 points and Colorado School of Mines held off Brigham Young-Hawaii 69-62 in a nonconference women's basketball game at Cannon Activities Center.
The Lady Seasiders (0-8) got a game-high 22 points from freshman guard Richelle Fenenbock and 14 points and eight rebounds from sophomore forward Agnes Tuilevuka. Peanut Eickelman and Stevie Hagemeister each added 10 for the Orediggers (6-4).
Fenenbock's 3-pointer put BYUH ahead at 52-50 with less than 7 minutes left. CSM responded with a 19-10 run to close out the victory.
