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POSTED: Wednesday, December 03, 2008

A new source of offense joined some old ones to give the Hawaii women's basketball team its first win of the season.

Allie Patterson scored a career-high 20 in her first start for UH and Megan Tinnin and Dita Liepkalne added 18 apiece as the Rainbow Wahine defeated Utah Valley 77-70 before a gathering of 154 last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Point guard Keisha Kanekoa added 16 points, seven assists and seven rebounds for Hawaii (1-6), which snapped an eight-game losing streak going back to last season.

There was a sense of relief that the team nabbed a win before its first true road trip of the season, the Arizona State Tournament this weekend.

“;Finally,”; said Tinnin, who scored 13 of her 18 points in the second half. “;Getting a win, then going to this Arizona tournament is good for us, I think.”;

Center Sarah Ilic was inactive with a head injury, clearing the way for Patterson to enter the starting lineup.

She shot 8-for-11, grabbed seven rebounds and finished with a block and a steal.

“;It was awesome,”; said Patterson, whose previous UH best was nine. “;I didn't know whether to be scared, or say, 'Let's just do this.' I guess it didn't show, huh?”;

Julie McMurray scored a career-high 30 points for Division I independent Utah Valley (2-4), which made several runs in the second half.

“;It's a win, and we got some good performances from people,”; Hawaii coach Jim Bolla said. “;Our concern with Allie isn't offense, it's defense, and she did a good job on their post people tonight.”;

The Wahine went up 46-32 on a Patterson basket with 13 minutes, 58 seconds left. But UVU responded with a 15-4 run to close to 50-47 with 10:12 to play.

Instead of folding, Hawaii went back to its source of instant offense: Patterson. She scored on a three-point play and hit a baseline jumper to push the lead back to double digits.

Turnovers (24) were still a concern for the Wahine, but they faced a team averaging more giveaways per game; UVU couldn't keep a handle on the ball when it mattered down the stretch.

Hawaii did a good job collapsing the paint on predictable entry passes by the Wolverines. UVU did little to discourage the Wahine from playing zone by going just 3-for-13 on 3-pointers in the first half.

The Wolverines were crippled early when their star, senior forward Robyn Fairbanks, went to the bench with her second foul just 4 minutes into the game. She came on strong late, but the missed time clearly hurt her team's chances as she finished with 15.

 

Hawaii 77, Utah Valley 70

Wolverines (2-4)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

	FG-A	FT-A	RB	PF	PTS	A	TO	MIN
McMurray	10-19	6-10	3	2	39	2	4	39
Reynolds	0-3	0-0	6	4	0	1	2	17
Faribanks	6-10	2-3	5	4	15	0	1	21
Marvin-Wall	3-10	4-6	1	1	11	3	3	34
Nakayama	1-3	0-0	3	3	2	6	3	31
Smith	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	1	2
Johnson	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	2
Beaman	2-2	0-0	0	3	5	1	2	10
Newbold	0-2	0-0	3	1	0	0	1	14
Burningham	3-10	0-0	4	1	7	2	2	30
TEAM			4
Totals	25-59	12-19	29	20	70	15	19	200

Rainbow Wahine (1-6)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

	FG-A	FT-A	RB	PF	PTS	A	TO	MIN
Liepkalne	7-14	1-3	6	3	18	3	1	37
Patterson	8-11	3-3	7	3	20	1	3	31
Cho	0-1	1-2	3	2	1	3	3	29
Tinnin	7-13	1-2	2	3	18	0	6	35
Kanekoa	5-9	6-6	7	1	16	7	6	34
Hamilton	1-3	0-0	0	2	2	3	1	16
Arbuckle	1-1	0-0	2	1	2	0	1	9
Dew	0-1	0-0	2	1	0	0	2	1
Jones	0-3	0-0	1	2	0	0	1	8
TEAM			7

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 - Hawaii 31, Utah Valley 23. Regulation- Hawaii 77, Utah Valley 70.

3-point goals - Utah Valley 8-27 (McMurray 4-10, Beaman 1-1, Fairbanks 1-2, Marvin-Wall 1-6, Bruningham 1-6, Nakayam 0-2), Hawaii 7-17( Liepkalne 3-5, Tinnin 3-7, Patterson 1-1, Cho 0-1, Kanekoa 0-1, Hamilton 0-2).

Steals - Utah Valley 11 (Marvin-Wall 4, Fairbanks 2, Nakayama 2, McMurray, Reynolds, Burningham), Hawaii 10 (Kanekoa 5, Hamilton 2, Liepkalne, Patterson, Arbuckle). Blocked shots - Hawaii 3 (Patterson, Tinnin, Kanekoa).

Officials - Brian Yamasaki, Kirk Hottendorf, Lisa Mann. A-942.