By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
In a scene repeated several times this basketball season, University of Hawai‘i Wahine seniors Kylie Galloway, Crystal Lee and Dainora Puida scored in flurries last night in a 77-56 victory over Texas-El Paso.
The only difference was that this was the last time it would happen at Stan Sheriff Center.
The Wahine (21-6, 12-4) leave for next week’s Williams Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., as the No. 2 seed. They will play seventh-seeded Tulsa in a Wednesday quarterfinal.
Their next loss could be the seniors’ last. They said goodbye to Hawai‘i, and a crowd of 1,549, last night by combining for 70 percent of the Wahine’s points — a bit better than their season average.
"We’re not worried about the points we’re losing, or the passing and defense," UH coach Vince Goo said. "Those things can be close to replaced. But the most difficult part to replace is going to be their attitude. They’re going out with a winner’s attitude and that’s going to be hard to find."
Galloway, Lee and Puida put their team on their shoulders in the final home game. UTEP, tenacious for the first 23 minutes, finally couldn’t reach any higher.
"I wish them the best of luck, they are tremendous players," Miners coach Sandra Rushing said of the UH seniors. "I’m glad they’re gone though."
Galloway, the team captain who came back after a frightening ankle injury and the birth of her son, Kyrin, last season, helped the Wahine recover from an 0-for-7 start. She scored 11 points in a 13-4 surge that put UH ahead, 17-8. Galloway, who finished with 26, hit five straight shots and had 15 points with 7:58 left in the half.
UTEP (8-19, 4-12) stopped her there, and clawed back behind Heidi Walker and Amy Pack, the WAC’s leading scorer. The Miners cut their deficit to one (21-20), but the Wahine answered with seven straight as Lee scored her first points of the game, and Michelle Gabriel drained her first 3-pointer of the season.
The Miners rallied again, scoring the last six points to make it 28-26 at halftime. They grabbed a 31-30 advantage — their first since it was 2-0 — three minutes into the second half.
Then Lee went off, scoring the next seven points in less than a minute. She had 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists in her final home game.
The Miners couldn’t dig any deeper. Hawai‘i pushed its advantage to 15 (55-40) on Puida’s 3-pointer with 8:38 remaining and coasted home. Puida finished with 13 points and five rebounds.
The Wahine hit 68 percent of their second-half shots and held Pack to 13 points — seven below her average — on 4-of-13 shooting. Then they celebrated their seniors.
Galloway and Puida will try to play professionally overseas with their husbands — former Rainbow Erin Galloway and current Rainbow Nerijus Puida. Lee’s basketball career is in its final month. All three are hoping it stretches into an NCAA Tournament swan song.
"I’ve never been one of those people that thinks basketball is life," Lee said. "Obviously it’s important right now, but it’s never been the most important thing to me. I don’t think it should be, other things are more important. But right now, basketball is very important to me."
 OVER AND BACK: Wahine freshman Julia Washington, the niece of former UH All-American Judy Mosley, hasn’t played much this season. But last night she sang the Star Spangled Banner, out-shining her aunt for the first time in her collegiate career. ... UTEP goes into the tournament as the No. 8 seed and will meet San Jose State in Tuesday’s play-in game. The winner gets top seed TCU Wednesday. ... In the two power ratings available to the public this week, Hawai‘i was No. 49 and UTEP ranged from 255 to 257.
TEXAS-EL PASO (56)
MP FG FT R A S PF TP
Pack 34 4-13 5-6 8 5 3 4 13
Touten 8 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0
Mata 35 4-8 2-2 6 3 1 5 12
Pyle 32 2-11 0-0 8 1 1 1 4
Guild 14 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0 0
Gray 9 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0
Abbruzzese 17 2-6 0-0 4 0 0 0 5
Chavez 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Walker 26 5-9 0-0 4 1 0 1 10
Mosher 22 4-9 4-6 2 0 1 4 12
Team 3
Totals 21-57 11-14 36 10 7 18 56
Percentage .368 .786
HAWAI‘I (77)
MP FG FT R A S PF TP
Galloway 38 10-14 5-5 5 4 0 0 26
Gabrielova 27 0-3 2-2 2 3 0 1 2
Roper 11 1-3 0-0 1 2 0 4 2
Brossman 12 2-5 0-0 1 1 0 1 5
Gabriel 7 1-1 0-0 0 1 0 1 3
Lee 36 7-10 4-4 7 4 2 2 19
Puida 21 4-11 4-4 5 2 1 3 13
Atuaia 25 2-3 1-1 3 2 2 1 5
Allen 10 1-3 0-0 2 0 0 1 2
Greeny 13 0-1 0-0 3 1 0 0 0
Team 0
Totals 28-54 16-16 29 20 5 14 77
Percentage .519 1.00
UTEP (8-19, 4-12 WAC) 26 30—56
HAWAI'I (21-6, 12-4 WAC) 28 49—77
3-point goals — UTEP 3-11 (Mata 2-3, Abbruzzese 1-3, Pack 0-1, Pyle 0-4), UH 5-14 (Galloway 1-3, Brossman 1-2, Gabriel 1-1, Puida 1-2, Lee 1-3, Atuaia 0-1, Gabrielova 0-2).
Blocked shots — UTEP 2 (Mata, Pyle), UH 6 (Roper 5). Turnovers — UTEP 21, UH 16. Technical fouls — none.
Att-1,549.
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