By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
February has come and gone and so have the University of Hawai‘i Wahine — three times in a month where they studied longer at 30,000 feet than sea level.
As the month ends, they have another 20-win season and a lock on the No. 2 seed at next week’s Western Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament. But March is what matters.
It begins with the end of the regular season tomorrow night against Texas-El Paso. It is the final home game for seniors Kylie Galloway, Crystal Lee and Dainora Puida.
Monday, the Wahine (20-6) leave for Tulsa, Okla., and the tournament that will decide their postseason fate. A WAC championship assures them of an NCAA Tournament berth. Anything less could leave them home for only the sixth time in coach Vince Goo’s 14 years.
"Winning is the only thing that puts you in control," Goo said. "I think if we get to the championship game we might be OK. We’ll move up in the RPI (ratings percentage index). But I think we have to get to the championship against TCU. Last year, Rice upset us and SMU, so they went and SMU went and we got left home."
Not exactly. The Wahine went to their third Women’s National Invitation Tournament and lost in the first round. A WNIT representative has already called Goo to ask if Hawai‘i would be interested.
The WNIT’s next call — after the NCAA at-large teams are selected March 11 — is one most coaches hope to avoid by going to the "Bigger Dance. But, I suppose we’d be interested." Goo said, then laughed. "It would look good on my obituary."
Hawai‘i is 49th in both power indexes this week. That puts the Wahine near the back of the bubble without an automatic invitation to the 64-team NCAA Tournament.
Hawai‘i’s six losses have come by an average of 4.3 points. Its road record is 6-2 after Sunday’s loss to WAC champion Texas Christian. It is 8-2 in its last 10 games — a span the NCAA Committee looks at closely — and might be peaking. Clearly, WAC Player of the Week Lee is, coming off a week when she averaged 30 points.
"In ‘basketball spurts’ we’re playing as well as we have all year," Goo said. "And not just the five starting the game for us. I’m talking about the 10 that get playing time. Depth helps you this part of the year when fatigue sets in, especially with the travel we’ve got. When you have people performing like Karena (Greeny), Christa (Brossman) and Dainora (Puida), you can have people getting a good rest."
The Miners (8-18) are in last place at 4-11, and trying to avoid Tuesday’s WAC play-in game between the worst teams. They upset TCU, 79-76, last week, and led by as many as 19.
UTEP also has the WAC’s most prolific player in sophomore Amy Pack, who nearly averages a double-double. She leads the conference in scoring (19.4 points) and is second in rebounding (9.8); both totals are among the top 25 nationally. In the Miners’ loss to Rice Sunday, Pack sat out the second half with a sore knee.
NOTES: Tomorrow is Senior Night, with all fans 55 and older admitted free. . . . The Wahine remain No. 1 in the WAC in defense (57.6), field-goal percentage (.434), field-goal percentage defense (.340), free-throw percentage (.759), rebounding margin (plus-8.9) and scoring margin (plus-12.0). ... Nationally, they are second in field-goal percentage defense, 10th in defense and 14th in free-throw percentage. ... UTEP, San Jose State and Tulsa are the possibilities for Tuesday’s play-in game. If Tulsa wins one of its two remaining games, the Miners and Spartans play Tuesday, with that winner taking on TCU Wednesday. Hawai‘i opens against the No. 7 seed (currently Tulsa). ... Wahine sophomore Christen Roper is seventh nationally in blocks, averaging 2.65 a game. With 69 blocks, she is tied for third on the WAC single-season list. ... Hawai‘i received one vote again in the USA Today/ESPN/ WBCA Top 25. ... UTEP sophomore Heidi Walker is on the Verizon Academic All-District VI team, with a 4.0 GPA in nursing.
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