Aztecs run over Wahine
POSTED: Saturday, November 29, 2008
The Hawaii women's basketball team isn't ready to run-and-gun just yet.
Twenty first-half turnovers were the byproduct of a forced Hawaii up-tempo attack and San Diego State turned the giveaways into a 71-48 thumping of the Rainbow Wahine on the first day of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Classic.
Hawaii-born Aztecs center Paris Johnson scored a career-high 31 points on 15-for-19 shooting as SDSU (3-2) compiled 50 points in the paint of the Stan Sheriff Center. When the Aztecs weren't dominating with dribble penetration to create open looks inside, they capitalized with 28 points off Hawaii's 27 total turnovers.
“;We didn't want any part of having to guard their offense,”; San Diego State coach Beth Burns said. “;We wanted to disrupt them before they got to that point, and we thought we could force some turnovers. When we could turn them over, we were successful.”;
Johnson, who was born in Kahuku but went to high school on the mainland, played before about 40 friends and relatives.
Hawaii guard Megan Tinnin had team highs of 12 points and eight rebounds, while forward Dita Liepkalne had a solid all-around performance of 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks.
Hawaii (0-4) had 11 days to prepare since going winless in the Bank of Hawaii Invitational on the Big Island. Coach Jim Bolla hoped a new starting lineup—featuring true freshman Briauna Linton—would provide a spark, but after the Wahine made up an early nine-point deficit to tie the game at 18, everything unraveled.
The Aztecs closed the first half on a 20-5 run and Hawaii never got closer than 15 in the second half.
“;We didn't believe in ourselves, or everyone got tired, or something happened,”; Liepkalne said. “;I think we don't believe we can win. But we have a lot to learn. There's a lot of games ahead of us.”;
The last time the Wahine opened a season 0-4 was in 1976-77, when UH played only three different schools all year and finished 4-4.
The team has never opened 0-5, a concern when UH takes on No. 19 Purdue today at 1:10 p.m. No. 5 Stanford awaits tomorrow at 4 p.m.
“;It's not gonna get any easier because now we've got more physical teams, I would say, and bigger teams all the way around,”; Bolla said. “;We just gotta pull ourselves off the mat and get ready to come out and play tomorrow.”;
In one aspect, Hawaii played considerably better in the second half—the Wahine didn't turn the ball over for a 10-minute stretch coming out of the break. Backup point guard Catherine Cho ran the offense smoothly and Allie Patterson had her best game in a Hawaii uniform with nine points off the bench.
San Diego St. 71, Hawaii 48
Aztecs (3-2)
| fg-a | ft-a | rb | pf | pts | a | to | min |
||
| Davis C. | 1-4 | 3-4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 24 |
|
| Davis Q. | 4-10 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 30 |
|
| Morris | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
|
| Layton-Bailes | 6-14 | 1-2 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 29 |
|
| Johnson | 15-19 | 1-2 | 7 | 3 | 31 | 1 | 3 | 27 |
|
| Spinardi | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
|
| Leo | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
|
| Vita | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
| Williams | 2-5 | 1-2 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
|
| Clark | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
|
| Dixon | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 17 |
|
| Chambers | 1-4 | 1-6 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 14 |
|
| Tutt | 2-3 | 0-1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
|
| TEAM | 2 | ||||||||
| Totals | 31-63 | 7-18 | 36 | 17 | 71 | 21 | 13 | 200 |
|
Rainbow Wahine (0-4)
| fg-a | ft-a | rb | pf | pts | a | to | min |
||
| Linton | 1-5 | 3-6 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 29 |
|
| Liepkalne | 4-6 | 2-2 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 33 |
|
| Tinnin | 5-10 | 0-0 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 33 |
|
| Kanekoa | 4-9 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 20 |
|
| Ilic | 0-4 | 0-2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 16 |
|
| Cho | 0-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 23 |
|
| Hamilton | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
|
| Arbuckle | 1-2 | 1-2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
|
| Galdones | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
|
| Patterson | 3-5 | 3-4 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
|
| Dew | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
|
| TEAM | 5 | ||||||||
| Totals | 18-46 | 9-17 | 36 | 13 | 48 | 15 | 27 | 200 |
|
Key—fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fould; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.
Halftime—San Diego St. 38, Hawaii 23.
3-point goals—San Diego State 2-5 (Davis, Q., 1-3, Williams 1-1, Davis, C., 0-1), Hawaii 3-9 (Tinnin 2-6, Liepkalne 1-1, Ilic 0-1, Cho 0-1).
Steals—San Diego State 14 (Davis, C., 4, Johnson 3, Davis, Q., 2, Williams 2, Morris, Dixon, Tutt), Hawaii 4 (Tinnin 2, Liepkalne, Cho). Blocked shots—San Diego State 6 (Johnson 2, Clark 2, Tutt, Davis, C.), Hawaii 2 (Liepkalne 2).
Officials—Lisa Jones, Brenda Pantoja, Todd Apo. Attendance—1,306.
