Advertiser Staff
One of the worst losses in Wahine basketball history was avenged last night as the University of Hawai‘i blew San Jose State away in the second half of a 91-61 victory at The Event Center in San Jose, Calif.
A month ago, the Wahine lost to the Spartans in Hawai‘i for the first time in 15 years. Last night, behind Crystal Lee (28 points, 7 rebounds) and Christen Roper (19 and 16), UH clinched at least a second-place Western Athletic Conference finish, and its 10th 20-win season in Vince Goo’s 14 years as coach.
It was Lee’s 11th consecutive game in double digits. She has 20 overall. Roper, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, set career highs in points and rebounds.
"Christen had a fine game," Goo said. "She really played well in the second half at Rice, especially offensively; she was really aggressive. We told her to continue that. If we pass her the ball inside eight feet, it’s not coming back out."
Hawai‘i (20-5 overall) is 11-3 going into tomorrow’s game at Texas Christian. The first-place Horned Frogs (19-6) have lost two of three to fall to 11-2.
The Wahine missed nine of their first 10 shots last night, lost captain Kylie Galloway four minutes into the game with foul trouble, and still nursed a 31-26 halftime advantage. They extended that dramatically in the final 20 minutes.
Less than three minutes into the second half, UH had doubled its advantage (45-31) and forced San Jose State (12-14, 4-11 WAC) into two timeouts. Midway through the half, the Wahine went on a 17-3 surge, going up 71-45 on Lee’s 3-pointer with 6:30 remaining.
"We ran," Goo said. "We played the same defense we had the final seven minutes of the first half and got fast break opportunities. And Kylie was back in — another ballhandler for us. She made some nice passes."
Atari Parker and Danada Smith, who combined for 54 points in Hawai‘i, had 18 last night — half their average — against defenders Janka Gabriel-ova and April Atuaia.
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