By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Sunday, the University of Hawai‘i Wahine lost their first basketball game in a month. Today, they leave on their third road trip in three weeks.
In between, they have rested — "They just need it from this crazy travel," coach Vince Goo says — and reflected on the emotional turbulence of the past few days.
The players awoke at 6:30 Sunday morning in Houston to discover team captain Kylie Galloway had been to the hospital five hours earlier and would not play against Rice. Galloway suffered serious cuts to the bridge of her nose and left index finger when she got out of bed at 1 a.m. and stumbled into a large picture.
The glass broke and fell on Galloway’s face. Another angle and it could have been her eye, or a much more serious cut. As it was, she took 10 stitches and Goo said the room "looked like a murder scene — there was blood all over the bed."
The stitches came out yesterday and trainer Tara Humphreys expects Galloway to be close to full strength for tomorrow’s game at San Jose State. The cut in her finger, which did not need stitches, is nearly healed.
Goo said the news devastated his team Sunday morning. Karena Greeny, Galloway’s road roommate, couldn’t get back to sleep, but later took a shift in Galloway’s all-WAC shoes as Hawai‘i tried three options to replace the player it can least afford to lose. In the six-game UH win streak leading to Galloway’s injury, the 6-foot forward was averaging 10 points — six below her career average — but contributing immeasurably.
"Our offense revolves around Kylie and she’s the backbone of our defense, too," Goo says. "She makes passes, can bring the ball up against pressure, sets good screens. She does a lot more than score. Defensively, she is our backline; she influences which way the offense has to go, has good anticipation, defends her person well and is the best helper we have."
Without Galloway, the Wahine lost, 57-53. The game had 20 lead changes and neither team took more than a five-point advantage. Hawai‘i was disappointed, but not discouraged.
"It was a good trip because we won at SMU," Goo said. "And, without Kylie, the team still came back and battled and competed really hard at Rice."
A victory in any of their final three games — today, Sunday at Texas Christian or next Thursday against UTEP in their final home game — will clinch second place for the Wahine. Hawai‘i (19-5 overall, 10-3 WAC) has a chance to catch first-place TCU (19-6, 11-2), which was upset in Texas-El Paso, 79-76, last night.
In the teams’ WAC opener at Hawai‘i two months ago, TCU won in overtime, overcoming a 10-point deficit. Galloway missed the final eight minutes because of dehydration. Kati Safaritova, a 6-foot-2 Slovakian who played with UH’s Dainora Puida and Janka Gabrielova at Weatherford College, scored 26.
The Wahine also lost to San Jose State at home, for the first time in 15 years. Hawai‘i turned the ball over 22 times and let Atari Parker and Danada Smith loose for 54 points. The juniors are both among the top 60 in scoring nationally, averaging 18 points a game.
"It’s not so much what those three (Safaritova, Parker and Smith) did, but what we could have controlled better," said Goo, blaming the coaching staff for both losses. "We’ll have to play that much better at their place."
OVER AND BACK: Both Wahine games will be live on KCCN (1420 AM). The San Jose State broadcast begins at 5:15 p.m. HST tomorrow, and the TCU game starts at 9:45 a.m. Sunday. ... One more victory will give Hawai‘i coach Vince Goo his 10th 20-win season in 14 years. ... UH did not receive any votes in the polls this week, but moved up to No. 51 in the Collegiate Basketball News power index, and No. 49 in Collegerpi.com. ... The Wahine continue to lead the WAC in scoring defense (58.8), field-goal percentage defense (.339), shooting percentage (.437), free-throw shooting percentage (.753), rebounding margin (plus 6.5) and scoring margin (plus 12).
[back to top] |
