Wahine ready to rock this town

TULSA, Okla. — In the leaf-less, seemingly lifeless downtown area that is the University of Hawai‘i’s basketball home this week, distractions are all but impossible to come by.

The Donald W. Reynolds Center, where the Williams Western Athletic Conference Tournament begins for the Wahine tonight against Tulsa, is a few miles away. The supposedly thriving city of 773,000 must be hiding somewhere beyond.

"Where are they all?" coach Vince Goo asks. "I never knew they had a downtown before. We always stayed south, where there are lots of restaurants and places to shop and things to do. I thought this would be better. It’s downtown. I guess every place has its Maunakea Street."

And nearly every tournament has its bubble team. In this one, it’s Hawai‘i.

The Wahine need to win the championship Saturday to reach their first NCAA Tournament since 1998. At the very least, they need to reach their first WAC Tournament final to have a realistic hope of getting an at-large invitation.

Second-seeded Hawai‘i (21-6) begins its quest against the home team, seventh-seeded Tulsa (8-20). The Wahine’s second-biggest fear is that more than a few of those 773,000 people show up tonight. Their biggest fear is the Golden Hurricane’s quickness.

Tulsa lost to Hawai‘i twice in January. That was five stress fractures ago. This team is leaner and meaner. And the teams’ first meeting in Tulsa was plenty mean.

"There was a lot of pushing and shoving and elbows," Wahine senior Crystal Lee remembers. "I hope the refs don’t let it get too physical this time. Last time we were here, it was out of hand on both sides."

The Golden Hurricane have no pure healthy post player. Forwards Lela Farr, a second-team all-WAC selection, and Carla Morrow, the only 6-foot starter, lead the team in scoring and rebounding from down low.

They got Christen Roper and Dainora Puida in foul trouble in the last meeting, with the Hawai‘i centers both biting on head fakes and giving up penetration.

"I think our two post players spent 12 minutes in the air in that game," Goo said. "For once, we wanted them to come down."

In the first meeting here, the Wahine defense smothered Tulsa into 28-percent shooting and gave up just 45 points. But Hawai‘i’s offense almost wasted the effort, careening out of control in a nine-point victory.

The Golden Hurricane, nearly invisible in a male-saturated sports market, know this is their best shot at avoiding anonymity. And, even in the disappointment of this injury-prone season, there have been highlights. Tulsa has victories over Rice and Colorado State. Saturday, it lost to fourth seed Nevada in the last two seconds.

Goo’s advice to his players this week is "try and save something for three games, and also know your next loss could be your last." It is a fine line, but this team — with its depth and depth of knowledge — comprehends it completely.

"We’ve run less and practiced less as the season went along because I felt we needed the rest," he says. "I also thought they learned real quickly. We cut our practices down to 1 1/2 hours in January. We’ve gone 60 minutes ...

"They are really quick learners and, from the beginning of practice they go hard, so there’s no reason to prolong it. And, we don’t have to repeat things because of mistakes. We repeat 80 percent less than last year."

In downtown Tulsa, that percentage has risen. Distractions are never a problem.

OVER AND BACK: The Wahine have won 77 percent of their WAC regular-season games, but are 3-4 in this tournament, having lost four of their last five. . . . SMU and Rice are the only current WAC members with a winning record at the tournament. . . . Tulsa coach Kathy McConnell-Miller is one of six siblings to attend college on a basketball scholarship. Her sister, Suzie, was an All-American at Penn State, played in the 1988 and ’92 Olympics, then retired after four years with the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers. · Golden Hurricane freshman Candice Brewer was named to the WAC’s all-Newcomer team Sunday. . . . Tulsa point guard Athena Pirpich is 15th nationally in 3-pointers per game, with 2.6.

All times Hawai'i time

Yesterday

San Jose State 66, UTEP 55

Today

Texas Christian vs. San Jose State, 8 a.m.
Nevada vs. Rice, 10:30 a.m.
Fresno State vs. Southern Methodist, 2 p.m.
Tulsa vs. Hawai‘i, 4:30 p.m.

Tomorrow

No games scheduled

Friday
Semifinals

TCU-San Jose State winner vs. Nevada-Rice winner, 8 a.m.
Fresno State-SMU winner vs. Tulsa-Hawai‘i winner, 10:30 a.m.

Saturday
Championship

Semifinal winners, 8:30 a.m.

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