Wahine Crystal Lee making most of final season

In an intensely personal meeting of senior pride and junior pain a few months ago, Crystal Lee breathed life back into her University of Hawai‘i basketball career. She has brought the Wahine to the brink of the NCAA tournament with her.

Crystal Lee has thrived in her senior season, leading the Wahine in scoring with a 16.4 average. Advertiser library photo • March 23, 1999

Lee comes into tonight’s final home game against UTEP as the Wahine’s leading scorer. Points have come early (all-tournament three times the first three weeks of the season) and often (three-time WAC Player of the Week). Offensive players don’t get by her and defensive players don’t seem to have a clue against her.

"She’s killed us," TCU coach Jeff Mittie said after Lee air-mailed in a team-record six 3-pointers against his team in January, then went for a career-high 32 points Sunday. "She probably scores the quietest points I’ve ever seen because there’s nothing flashy about her.

"The other day I knew she had a nice game. I was thinking she had around 20 points. Then I see the stat sheet and we gave her 32. She has 13 free throws and three 3-pointers. She’s got points every way you can get them."

Mittie was so mystified, he looked up Lee’s box scores from last season. She played 10 minutes against his team - in two games. It was a year of living miserably for Lee, who started as a sophomore, then couldn’t earn her spot back.

"How can I put it nicely ... it was a character test," Lee said. "I don’t think I improved much from my sophomore to my junior year, and you can’t coast by any means in collegiate sports. I think I coasted a little. But that was also the year that taught me the most, as far as swallowing your pride."

Crystal Lee 5-foot-11 senior forward from Spokane, Wash. Nickname: Smokes (because of her small, sausage-like fingers). Favorite food: 7-Eleven nachos. Favorite thing about playing for the Wahine: The leis. When I was a kid playing basketball, I pretended I was: Much better than I was. I'd like to switch places for a day with: Kylie Galloway, to attain her killer edge.

Volleyball player Jessica Sudduth saw her best friend lose her motivation along with her position. Lee says Sudduth was her "rock" while she struggled with her disappointment. Lee’s coaches credit Sudduth with improving her practice habits.

Sudduth saw a compelling change in Lee last semester. She "just figured it out" as her senior season approached, and Sudduth’s collegiate career wound to an emotional end.

"She bought into it," Sudduth said. "Bought into the preseason workout, bought into everything. She was immersed into her own unique leadership position.

"It has been awesome to watch her, but it’s weird because she was never comfortable doing that. It was something she’s never had and all of a sudden she is in a position where people are looking for her."

Everyone apparently, but the opposition, who never had to deal with Lee last season and simply cannot now. Lee has taken to calling herself the "secret weapon" while coach Vince Goo jokes that last year "was camouflage - we didn’t want to make her Crystal clear."

With opponents reluctant to leave Kylie Galloway, few double-team Lee, who is often on the same side. "Teams are really confused as to who they have to stop now," assistant coach Serenda Valdez says.

Before, Lee was happy to pull up and fire her unorthodox "jumper," which has always been shockingly accurate. Now, she is just as inclined to penetrate with a hesitation, reverse spin or crossover.

Somehow, she beats defenders to the basket. "I am the slowest chick in the league probably," Lee admits. "I don’t know. Maybe they’re anticipating too much."

Her threat has multiplied exponentially, and Hawai‘i’s improved depth has also increased her value. In the space of a season, Lee has morphed into an impact player with statistics hauntingly reminiscent of former Wahine All-Americans Nani Cockett and Raylene Howard.

"It’s weird because I’m a senior and I’m scoring a lot and that’s what Nani and Ray did, and I’m so in a different league than they are as far as ability," Lee says. "That kind of floors me."

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